


Queen of Evil

by Serbaayuu



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 15:00:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 25,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12368223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serbaayuu/pseuds/Serbaayuu
Summary: Cross-posted between here and https://queen-of-evil-fanfic.tumblr.com/.New chapters added weekly, roughly Saturdays.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted between here and https://queen-of-evil-fanfic.tumblr.com/.
> 
> New chapters added weekly, roughly Saturdays.

The King of Hyrule stood amidst a shambling mass of shadows. The King looked just as she remembered him, tall and regal, carrying a glimmering sword.  
She watched the shadows rise up and envelop the King. The roiling mass of darkness swallowed him as his mouth wordlessly moved and his jeweled finger pointed, giving orders to soldiers that were not there.  
For a moment she saw nothing, then the shadows receded. Where the King of Hyrule once stood, she now saw herself, wielding her own glittering sword, wearing a golden crown she had never worn before.  
She watched the shadows dance around her and heard them chant her name.  
“Minerva!”  
She didn’t know why they were doing it.  
“Minerva!”  
She didn’t like it.  
“Minerva!”  
She hated it.

“Minerva.”  
She woke with a start. A sheet of paper fluttered from her face to the grass below her chair. The sun was shining. Her sister, Princess Zelda, sat across the table from her, smiling softly. Zelda handed Minerva a steaming cup from the tray she held. “Are you okay?”  
Minerva shook her head, clearing the shadows from her mind. The gentle radiance of the garden - and of her younger sister, well-groomed as ever - brought her back to reality. She took the cup and sipped it. The hot and bitter flavor of deku leaf tea flooded her senses. “I was just dreaming. Thank you.”  
“You’ve been working hard.” Zelda’s eyes glanced over the stack of papers on the table under Minerva’s elbow. “You shouldn’t overdo it.”  
“Unfortunately, my duties as a Princess require a bit more effort than singing to birds and attending parties.” Minerva drank deeply from her cup, then looked at Zelda. The younger Princess’ bright blue eyes shone with gentle concern. “But your sentiment is appreciated, truly,” she added.  
Zelda fell silent, seemingly content with Minerva’s answer, while she sipped her own tea. Minerva turned back to her papers, flipping through them and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Requests piled upon requests from needy merchants, disgruntled nobles, and what felt like everybody else in Hyrule Kingdom.  
“Have you heard any news from Father today?” Minerva asked while reaching for the report that had fallen under her chair.  
Zelda shook her head. “No. But that’s good, right? It means we don’t need to worry.” She smiled again.  
“Indeed.” Minerva neatly stacked her reports and placed them back into their folder. “What time is it now?” she then wondered aloud, pulling her watch from her pocket.  
Zelda replied before she could check. “About two-thirty.”  
Minerva leapt out of her chair, grabbing her jacket from its back. “I’m late!” She threw the jacket haphazardly over her shoulders, then snatched her dossier from the table before starting to rush out of the courtyard into the castle halls.  
“I’ll make sure to wake the sleeping princess earlier next time,” Zelda called to her cheerily.  
“Yes, be sure you do!” Minerva retorted, then she was gone as she whisked across the polished tile floors to the far side of Hyrule Castle, where her day’s task was waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Minerva reached the conference room in the north wing of Hyrule Castle, the two other parties involved in the conference were already in heated discussion. The first, one of the advisors to the Hyrulean throne, Lady Linebeck, was already red in the face from frustration. Her long face was beaded with sweat and her cravat was hanging untied around her neck; a sure sign, Minerva knew, that the lady’s opponent was getting under her skin.  
The second party, an anouki elder - or one who claimed to be, at least - sat across from her, his short arms folded under his fluffy beard, eyes narrowed. His thick coat’s hood was down, and he sported a rather magnificent set of antlers, which wobbled slightly every time he scoffed.  
When Minerva entered the chamber, the two delegates fell silent. Linebeck sighed and sat back down, but the anouki elder merely turned his squinty gaze upon the princess.  
“Greetings,” Minerva said, taking the center chair adjacent to Linebeck and placing her folder of documents on the fine wooden table. She noticed that the advisor was nursing a notepad containing a list of items that appeared to be crossed out in a progressively angrier manner. Minerva spoke to the anouki elder: “you are Elder Koko, am I correct? Thank you for meeting with us today.”  
The elder sniffed. “I was told I would be meeting with the King, not the Princess. I came all the way from Brightwater Village for this.”  
Minerva brushed off the slight. “His Majesty is currently away on business in Domus. As the eldest princess, I have been granted the full extent of his royal power in his stead.” Minerva spoke calmly, with her hands folded on the table before her. Though she may have been shorter than her advisor Linebeck, anouki were a people short in stature, and Minerva towered over the elder, looking down on him from across the conference table. “And, of course, Lady Linebeck has joined us to share her expertise.” Minerva gestured to her reports. “As I understand, you are here today to discuss your village’s tariffs?”  
“That’s just the problem, see? This lady’s not-- she is exactly the sort of person giving my village trouble.” The elder huffed.  
Minerva made a mental note that the anouki was putting on his manner of speech, attempting to hide his normal, less-refined way of speaking from them.  
“Princess,” Linebeck interjected, “I’ve tried explaining the concept of trade to him -”  
“And I’m sure you’ve done a wonderful job,” Minerva interrupted, keeping her eyes on the elder. “As such, I would be happy to take the time listen to Elder Koko’s grievance and accommodate him to the best of my ability.”  
The elder sniffed again, puffing his chest subtly. “Alright then. Lemme -- let me tell you what I’ve been telling the lady.”

An hour later, Lady Linebeck’s face was redder than ever, and the anouki elder was rumbling angrily in his chair.  
Despite Minerva’s efforts, both parties had remained steadfast - Elder Koko on the opinion that his people were taxed too highly for their staple of fish imported from the Hyrulean Sea, and Linebeck on the claim that the taxes had been lowered beyond what was already viable.  
In this moment, Minerva did not envy the job of her father - the job that would one day be hers. Nonetheless, it was currently her task to solve. A task she hoped to finish quickly before the two delegates returned to quarrelling.  
“I’ve had an idea that I think you will both like,” Minerva suddenly said.  
The elder perked up in his chair, while Linebeck returned to slouching, exhaling deeply.  
“Koko, if it’s as my advisor says, the main reason for the high prices are that the ice used to keep the fish fresh in shipment is purchased from your people in the first place.” She outlined simple facts for the anouki, guiding him into agreeing with her.  
He nodded.  
“As it happens,” Minerva continued, “I’ve recently learned of a sorceress who has moved into Castle Town. An ice witch, in fact. If she’s willing, I’m sure we could hire her to supply fresh packing ice, and then both our problems will be solved.”  
The elder paled slightly and stuttered. “I, uh, I’d have to think on that.”  
“That’s fantastic, then,” Minerva beamed, clasping her hands together earnestly. “In that case, why don’t we retire for the day? You can even go speak with the witch for yourself, if you like. I’ll have someone provide you with her address.” Out of the corner of her eye, Minerva could see Linebeck eyeing her incredulously, but she ignored her.  
“Yeah, okay, I’ll do that.” Koko fussed with his beard, looking like he was trying to look deep in thought. “I’ll seeya -- I mean, I’ll take my leave now, then.” The anouki bounced out of his chair and waddled to the door, hurrying out of the conference room, leaving the Princess and her advisor alone.  
As soon as the door on the far side of the room closed behind the elder, Minerva sighed deeply, finally relaxing.  
Linebeck grumbled beside her. “You know we can’t conscript civilians to work, right, Princess?” She slouched in her chair, producing a flask from her pocket and tipping it to her lips.  
Minerva raised an eyebrow at Linebeck’s audacity to drink so casually in the conference chamber. “I’m perfectly aware. But I have no intention of hiring her for that. Instead, I’ll need you to pay this witch a visit and commission her to impress our anouki friend.”  
“Oh?”  
Minerva smiled with a sigh. “Koko will buckle once he sees that his tribe’s exports can be replaced. I don’t have to convince him of anything beyond that.”  
“Hah!” Linebeck laughed gleefully, sitting up to swivel in her chair and face Minerva. “You’re an angel! I’ve been trying to get him off my back for months.”  
“I try,” Minerva shrugged. “It wouldn’t do if a Princess can’t help keep her kingdom’s economy running, after all.”  
Linebeck continued, “and you had me going, too. I almost thought you were your sister for a second when you pulled out the radiance on him.”  
“I’m flattered,” Minerva said flatly, turning immediately back to her reports and moving to shuffle them back into their folder. “Of course, this plan won’t work if that witch has no product to offer, so you had best get going.”  
“Oh!” The lady hopped from her chair, stowing her flask and brushing her still-haggard hair back from her face. “Consider it done, Princess. Thank you.” She bowed deeply, rushing out the door behind Minerva’s seat.

Minerva flipped over the final report in her dossier, one on the state of Hyrule’s borderlands, where her father, the King, was currently working. The kingdom’s advisors were due to convene the day after next to report on the war.  
She glanced out the eastern window, toward where the King and his armies were stationed, knowing she would see nothing, but checking all the same. She was surprised to see that it was already nighttime. The bright lights of Castle Town shone beneath the window, lighting up the sky.  
“I must have lost track,” she muttered to nobody.


	3. Chapter 3

Two days after her meeting with Linebeck and the anouki, Minerva sat in the same conference chamber, at the head of the table with three of the crown’s royal advisors around her.  
To her left sat Hattori, a middle-aged rito with a skittish demeanor. Currently, he was alternating between fidgeting with his ponytail and smoothing out the wing feathers draped around his arms like sleeves, a feat that he never quite seemed to accomplish.  
To the right side of Minerva’s seat, an immense boulder of a goron took his own chair. Gor Hora was an ancient thing, over a century old and steadfast friend to the crown. While he waited for the task at hand to begin, he patiently puffed his pipe, the smoke wafting upward and circling around his hunched, rocky back like some sort of great mountain peak.  
Beside Gor Hora sat Lord Julian, a heavyset, gray-haired Hylian with a round face and bushy moustache, and the overseer of the meeting.  
Julian cleared his throat noisily, his signal that he was going to begin. “Thank you all for being here,” he started, adjusting his glasses to focus on the stack of papers, scrolls, and parchments he had piled in front of him. “You are all already aware of King Romulus’ business at our nation’s border for this past month.”  
Minerva and Hattori both nodded in affirmation, while Gor Hora merely continued to listen, near-motionless, with one eyebrow cocked in Lord Julian’s direction.  
“Our neighbor, Kythera,” Julian continued, “has grown increasingly agitated as of late. They cite bublin raiding parties attacking not only Hyrule’s trains into their cities, but even assaulting Kythera’s own intranational trade routes.”  
“Further, even though our reports place these bulblins spread further apart amongst the wilds than we originally predicted, our generals at Domus are claiming that the bublin forces are only growing larger every day.”  
Hattori tugged at his hair-feathers and spoke: “Have the Kytherans sent out any soldiers to combat these demons, as we have?” The concern in his voice was overlaid by a veneer of accusation.  
“Yes,” Julian said, “but they have expressed an unwillingness to defend anywhere beyond their own borders.”  
Minerva cut in. “What our neighbors are doing is not important. Our concern should foremost be the protection of our own land from demons, as it always is.” Hora nodded slowly, but nobody spoke, so Minerva continued, pointing her next question at Julian. “Has Domus requested more soldiers?”  
“That’s correct, Princess.”  
“Then send them triple what they requested,” she said without hesitation. “Take able men from the navy and the city guard to fill the ranks.”  
Hora exhaled mightily, blowing smoke across the table toward Hattori, but remained otherwise motionless.  
Hattori coughed, waving away the smoke. “Is that wise? We’d be crippling our standing defenses near the capitol.”  
“It isn’t impossible, by any means.” Julian rubbed his pen to his temple.  
“That is why I ordered it,” Minerva said. She spoke coolly, her hands folded neatly at the table before her. “The sooner the demons are routed, the sooner they will stop slaughtering innocents and disrupting trade. And the sooner they’ll be stopped from entering Hyrule altogether.”  
“You make a fair point,” Hattori admitted.  
“Decisive and firm,” Gor Hora said. His voice, so rarely used that the sound of it caused Hattori to flinch in surprise, was like the rumbling of an earthquake. “Some folks’d consider that inspiring. I’m sure your father wouldn’t complain, and I won’t either.” He exhaled more of his smoke from his nostrils, ruffling Minerva’s hair with the force. The stuff Hora smoked wafted over her, making her lightheaded for a moment.  
She nodded, then turned to her Hylian advisor. “Julian, do you approve?”  
“Yes, we’ll have to iron out the details, but I think it’s an acceptable plan.” He straightened his glasses again then began shuffling through his stack of files. “Let me see. There was a request straight from Mayor Troy somewhere in here.”  
Hattori spoke toward Minerva while Julian was distracted. “Are you completely sure your wits are about you? This isn’t all just because your father is in Domus, right, Princess?”  
Minerva glared at him. “I’m not making decisions on whimsy, Hattori.”  
He tugged at his hair again. “Yes, I only asked because Zelda mentioned that you had been growing concerned…” The rito’s wide, intense red eyes glanced away from her.  
“My concern as the King’s daughter does not have any bearing on my duty as the Princess. I’ll thank you to disregard such foolishness.” She turned away from him, leaning forward to get a closer look at Lord Julian’s stack of reports. “Julian, let’s continue.”


	4. Chapter 4

Minerva found herself sitting at one of several small tables on the balcony overlooking Hyrule Castle’s eastern yard, pen in hand, pondering how to begin her letter to the Kytheran parliament. Her fist pressed a dent into her cheek while she mused on her strategy: she hoped to convince Hyrule’s neighbor to send military aid to confront the demon hordes pressing at both their borders, but she knew that asking for such a thing directly would sound all too desperate.  
In the yard below her seat, serving as a distraction from her thoughts, her younger sister was fencing with the Princess’ athletic tutor, Impa. An old, sinewy twig of a woman, she barked instruction to Zelda while simultaneously knocking the Princess back into the dust every time she lunged forward. As always, the tutor looked like she barely broke a sweat.  
It had been long since Hyrule had allowed even its royalty to fall victim to the weakness of decadence. All persons of significant station in the kingdom were expected to participate in some form of training during their lifetime, both in order to be capable of defending themselves should they ever visit one of the wilder parts of the kingdom, and in order for them to learn a healthy sense of discipline.  
Minerva had gone through her own physical and magical training, as well, though as her political responsibilities grew, she became further restricted from it to avoid unnecessary mishaps. It felt like it had been an eon since she trained with Impa in the same yard her sister struggled in now, but it had only been about two years since Minerva came of age and the people around her started to defer to her as a member of the court, as though she had flipped a light switch.  
Minerva resolved to complete her letter and ask Impa to duel her, to clear her mind and sharpen her focus. If the tutor refused, she decided, she could always ask Zelda instead. She couldn’t remember the last time the two of them sparred, or even practiced side by side.

“Hey, Princess!” She was interrupted by the voice calling from the hallway leading out to her balcony. She turned around in her chair to see the advisor, Linebeck, approaching to take one of the chairs next to her. For once, the advisor’s clothes weren’t remotely disheveled, but her hair was as wild as ever.  
Minerva put her pen aside as the advisor sat, blowing gently on her half-finished letter to dry the ink. “Good afternoon, Katherine. How is business going?”  
Linebeck shrugged off her longcoat from her shoulders, letting it slip into her seat. She leaned forward over the table eagerly. “Couldn’t be better,” she said with a grin. “I talked to that ice witch like you suggested - had her put on a little magic show for the Elder. Koko ran home right afterward. Looks like we won’t need to hire her after all,” the advisor shrugged.  
“My, what a shame,” Minerva teased. “Good work. That’s one less thing to worry about during this war.” She paused, glancing back to her letter. “Unfortunately, it seems Kythera won’t be much aid.”  
“I heard about your plan to send reinforcements. You think that’ll be enough to end it?”  
“That is what I plan on, yes,” Minerva said. “Domus asked for the assistance, and sending my father extra men should help him take care of the problem. I see little point in playing around when we have the ability to finish this quickly.”  
“If anybody can handle it, it’ll be your father. He’s taken down his share of demons. But…” Linebeck’s voice dropped close to a whisper. “They’re saying the demons this time are being led by a darknut. That’s not an ordinary monster.”  
Minerva frowned. “Worrying about rumors certainly won’t help us.” She looked up at Linebeck. “But I will take it into consideration, thank you. Maybe that news can instigate some further action from our neighbor.”  
It was a few minutes before Linebeck replied again. “Do you think the Hero will appear?” As she finished her question, a great ringing clang sounded from below as Impa batted Zelda’s sword out of her hands, causing both Minerva and Linebeck to flinch in surprise.  
Minerva sighed, settling back into her seat. Linebeck was looking at her expectantly, with an air of unusual gravity around her expression. “Maybe,” she answered. “How am I to know what fate will bring? We can only take action or inaction. If the legend appears, I’ll be grateful for his presence. If he does not, I won’t bemoan his absence. Anything else would be foolish.”  
Linebeck hummed as she digested Minerva’s words. Before she could reply, Minerva stood up. “And speaking of action. I’m going to the training yard.” She moved to pick up her writing tools.  
“You’re right,” Linebeck finally said. “And I’ve got your back, if you need it.”  
“I know I am,” Minerva said matter-of-factly as she turned to walk away, papers and ink under one arm. “And,” she turned back to flash a marvelous smile at her advisor, “I’ll ensure that I won’t need it.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Impa!” Minerva shouted out as she walked into the training yard. She had changed out her formal vest and jacket for a light leather vest, and wore a simple blunted sword on her hip.  
The tutor turned away from demonstrating her sword stance to Zelda to acknowledge Minerva. That glance was all the acknowledgement she received, however; the tutor was stony-faced as ever.  
Minerva bowed her head slightly in a polite gesture to her tutor. “I was feeling restless,” she explained, “so I would like to spar with Zelda. Do you mind?”  
“That will be up to the Princess,” Impa said. Her voice was deep and sharp.  
Zelda grinned; despite the sweat and dirt she had accumulated already, her face glowed. “Okay! It’s been a while.”  
Impa nodded and stepped back, leaving the two Princesses enough room to duel.  
Minerva brandished her sword in her right hand. Her left remained empty; shields and knives were not part of their standard equipment in the training yard. The sword measured several centimeters longer than her forearm, and sported dual edges and a rounded tip which would be much sharper on a real weapon. Zelda mirrored her elder sister, shifting into an identical stance, with her body turned sideways to make a smaller target. Impa stood several meters away, remaining silent, her arms folded behind her back.  
Minerva observed her sister as the two Princesses slowly circled each other. Zelda was four years her younger, but when the young Princess wore pants and a shirt, Minerva felt like she was looking into a mirror. Zelda stood a few centimeters shorter, and slimmer - not quite yet a fully grown woman, but nearly. She kept her golden blonde hair longer than Minerva’s, down to her hip when worn loose, but they shared the bangs that framed their faces like lightning bolts, and the long Hylian ears that were prominent in their lineage. The younger Princess’ eyes shone bright blue and darted up and down, watching her older sister’s movements. Zelda’s brow wasn’t creased with the furrow Minerva was familiar with from her own face, instead keeping her eyebrows raised with eager glee.  
Zelda’s forward foot twitched.  
Minerva shifted her weight to her opposite side. Zelda hesitated, leaned back, and paused.  
When the sisters had sparred in the past, Zelda would never fail to recklessly lunge at her sister, always falling flat or being parried. Minerva was impressed; the younger Princess had finally learned to temper her excitement and gained patience. Zelda was always eager to tumble with someone or something; as a child she often crept away from her studies to play and wrestle with the other children of nobles around the castle. Minerva, on the other hand, treated her training purely as a duty - an obligation of her station, albeit one she found cathartic when the mood struck her.  
Minerva watched as Zelda suddenly stumbled over her own feet. She stepped forward, swinging her blade in a wide arc meant to catch her younger sister in the side.  
Zelda caught her footing in time to hop backward and avoid it. She hadn’t yet stopped smiling - Minerva could tell she was having fun.  
A thought emerged in Minerva’s mind then, unbidden, as she and Zelda settled back into their standoff. She envisioned Princess Zelda, clad in weapons and magical relics, striding into battle at the head of Hyrule’s armies. The thought was unsettling; a sickening knot formed in Minerva’s stomach as she considered it. Their father going to war was one thing - he was the King of Hyrule, and it was his duty to lead his soldiers when necessary. The idea of Zelda doing the same was somehow unbearable, even despite her proclivity for roughhousing; or perhaps because of it. Minerva willed the errant thought away.  
Zelda must have noticed Minerva’s distraction, because she sprung forward at that moment.  
Minerva was not lost in her thoughts enough to be caught off guard. As Zelda brought her sword down toward Minerva’s chest, the elder Princess caught her sister’s blade on her own, twisting it around and deflecting it away, sending her sister’s arm askew. She parried, jabbing Zelda in the chest and striking firm on the tough leather training vest she wore.  
“Oof.” Zelda tipped off balance and then fell, landing in the dirt. Her sword slipped out of her hand and clattered aside. “I thought I had you for once,” she looked up at Minerva, smiling again.  
Minerva smiled back, the foul feeling in her gut dissipating as quickly as it had arrived. “Not quite. But almost, perhaps.” She held out her free hand to help Zelda to her feet. “Come on,” she beckoned at Zelda’s wayward sword with her own. “That’s not the end. Let’s continue.”


	6. Chapter 6

Minerva had never seen a war firsthand before. Truthfully, she thought to herself, simply living through one from afar couldn’t be considered firsthand, either. She stood in her bedroom, high in one of the castle’s many spires, being dressed by one of her maids. It was early in the morning, and sunlight poured in from the eastern window, casting its glare across her wardrobe and mirror and sending shadows to settle in the corners.  
Regardless of her direct involvement, Minerva had expected the act of war on Hyrule’s eastern border to require more attention than she had been forced to give it. Only a week had passed since she gave the order to send Hyrulean forces to Domus, and the soldiers were finally setting out, preparing to be carried by train across the country. The day after giving the order, she had completed her letter to the Kytheran parliament requesting military aid and handed it off to the postmen. Beyond this, her duties had continued as normal - though being Regent Princess was new, it had hardly expanded her duties beyond what work she already did as Princess before the King left the capitol.  
Minerva sucked in her breath slightly as her caretaker tightened the laces on her vest. She was thankful for the fact that her dress requirements hadn’t changed with her temporary Regent position, at least. She had no idea how her younger sister made the time to put on a dress every morning. Pants, boots, a shirt, and a handsomely-decorated, long-tailed jacket made for a much simpler morning routine, and it was a much easier ensemble to do proper business in.  
Today she was to hold audience with the citizens of Hyrule, alongside her sister and her advisors. This, too, was familiar to her, though while the King was present, Minerva merely sat at his side. She would be taking the King’s throne today.  
She wondered how the war would reflect on the citizens in attendance today. It felt strange to consider spending an entire day answering requests from farmers and merchants when people - and her Father - were fighting demons to the death only a day’s journey away. And yet this was the task given to her: maintain the civilized kingdom while the King led the armies to defend it. The thought gave her peace; she was taking the job she was born for, even if it was only temporary in this situation.  
She bowed her head slightly as her maid placed her crown upon her head; a modest golden ring stylized with wings splayed over her temples.  
“Thank you, dear,” Minerva said, moving to take her jacket from its hook and put it on by herself. “I’ll be off.”  
Without waiting for a reply, she made her way out her bedroom door and started down the stairs to Hyrule Castle.

Minerva met Princess Zelda outside the audience chamber, and they entered together. The chamber was the centerpiece of Hyrule Castle; two ostentatious thrones sat next to each other on a dais on the west end of the chamber beneath a high and intricately-decorated ceiling of paint and glass, allowing brilliantly colored sunlight to flood the room.  
Advisor Hattori stood on the dais, next to the greater throne - the King’s - fidgeting with his wingfeathers as he waited. Six Hyrulean guards stood around the dais, clad in grass-green suits over chainmail and wielding ornate spears.  
On the eastern side of the room stood four more guards, two of whom were preparing to open the great wood-and-iron doors that opened to the outside air. The audience chamber was located high above ground level, and two great stairways beginning near the castle entrance met at a balcony outside the chamber. Citizens of Hyrule Castle Town and other villages around the kingdom would climb those stairs to make requests of the King and Queen of Hyrule day after day. Today was the first audience held since King Romulus had gone to war; there would undoubtedly be hordes of appeals as a result.  
Minerva sat on the King’s throne. She was used to taking her seat in the second, less-opulent throne at the King’s side; this seat was no different than her usual one, but the shift in perspective felt strange and foreign.  
She settled back into the seat. It was her throne, for a short while. And holding audience was a job she had been familiar with for years.  
She looked to her left; her sister, Zelda, was getting seated in the lesser throne. The younger Princess looked excited. This would be her first opportunity to hold audience officially, and she bristled happily as she set her precise and proper posture in her seat.  
Suddenly, one of the doors behind the dais burst open, allowing Lord Julian to hurry through, coughing loudly into a handkerchief. “Sorry I’m late,” he puffed, clambering up the dais to stand beside Zelda’s throne.  
Zelda cheerily took to exchanging pleasantries with him; while they chatted, Hattori leaned down to Minerva’s ear and whispered to her, taking advantage of the distraction Julian’s arrival had caused.  
“Princess. I have dire news,” he whispered.  
Minerva turned to stare at him in a way that probably looked very much like a glare. “Tell me.”  
The rito blinked slowly, continuing: “There was an attack on our railway last night. They used bombs. The rail to eastern Hyrule is cut off.”  
“Demons?” she demanded.  
Hattori nodded. “We don’t know where they came from or why they attacked, yet. But, your reinforcements to Domus… They will be delayed.”  
Minerva’s grip tightened around the throne’s arm, tension building. “Have you informed the generals? The engineers?”  
“Yes. They are working as quickly as possible to fix this.”  
“I want you to update me when you learn any news,” Minerva commanded. “We can’t afford to march an army across the entire nation.”  
“Yes, of course,” Hattori nodded profusely.  
Their conversation ended when the main audience chamber doors finally opened with a great groan. The guards pulled them inward, fitting the doors’ bolts into the floor when they were fully opened. A gentle breeze blew in from outdoors, carrying with it the roaring murmur of dozens of Hyrulean citizens lined up upon the stairways.  
Hattori stood back up, holding his hands behind his back and watching the room impassionately; Julian followed suit. Minerva refocused her attention on the incoming citizens; one by one, guards allowed them into the audience chamber.  
“Welcome,” she said, smothering her voice in grace and poise. “I am Princess Minerva. Princess Zelda and I will be hearing your appeals today. Please, freely voice your desire.”


	7. Chapter 7

Minerva stretched, arching her back and twisting her arms behind her head. The inevitable exhaustion of answering questions was beginning to set in; complaints piled upon complaints and appeals piled upon appeals. Minerva, Zelda, Julian, and Hattori answered all of them, and already the audience chamber’s light was growing dimmer as the sun began its descent in the sky.  
The stream of people flowing into the castle had turned into a slow drip; the court waited for the next person to be presented.  
Minerva turned to her sister, who sat calmly in her throne. “I should thank you, Zelda.”  
“Hm?” Zelda smiled quizzically.  
“You’ve been an immense help today. Even if it’s your first time holding a formal audience, I think you may already be better at it than I am.” Her words were truthful; her younger sister worked well with people, especially civilians, and she injected warmth and compassion into Minerva’s commands and directives.  
Zelda waved sheepishly. “Oh, that’s silly. I’m just following your lead like always.”  
“We make a good team, then.”  
“Yes,” Julian interjected from Zelda’s side, “the kingdom is in good hands with you two. Why, when Minerva becomes Queen, I’m sure--”  
“That’s a long way off, Julian,” Minerva said.  
“Of course, of course,” he chuckled.  
The court continued waiting. A few straggling citizens were allowed into the audience chamber; Minerva and Zelda greeted them as usual, carrying on with business.

As the sunlight turned to twilight, Minerva, Zelda, Julian, and Hattori prepared to retire for the evening. Julian was already making his way down the dais’ steps when there was a shout from the grand doorway.  
Almost in response, more shouts went up. Minerva watched the guards standing on the balcony outside the doors rush out of the way as a rito, with a Hylian clinging to his legs, soared in from above and straight through the open doors, coming to a tumbling, clamorous crash at the entrance of the audience chamber.  
The Hylian - a teenaged boy, by his appearance - rolled out from under the rito and broke into a dash for the dais.  
Both the rito and Hylian wore the garb of Hyrulean soldiers. The door guards rushed toward the rito - a young boy, the same as the Hylian he had carried - unsure of whether they should treat him as an invader or a victim.  
The guards around the dais moved to hold their spears toward the Hylian youth dashing toward them, but before they could lower their points, the boy skidded to a halt before the dais and fell to one knee.  
He was panting desperately, trying to form words as he caught his breath. The rito, collapsed on the floor several meters behind him, fared even worse.  
Julian dashed around the dais, surprisingly quickly for his size, to where the rito boy fell, not waiting for the other guards to assist. “This boy needs help!” he roared, scooping the rito up in his arms. He hurried back the way he came, carrying the rito out of the audience chamber toward the castle infirmary, with several of the chamber guards scurrying behind him.  
Minerva and Zelda looked down at the Hylian boy. He was staring at the floor.  
Hattori demanded: “What is this?”  
The boy looked up. His blond hair was totally disheveled, his face and body scratched and bruised. Blood pooled and turned parts of his green soldier’s uniform a sickly brown. Dried tears smeared the blood speckled on his face.  
“Princesses,” he bowed his head deeply again as he spoke. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “The King is dead.”  
Minerva saw Zelda clamp her hands over her mouth; preventing whatever sound she made from being heard. Minerva forced herself to speak. Her mouth was suddenly dry and she felt like she had to try with all her might to prevent her voice from cracking. “Explain.”  
The boy looked like he would rather do anything but explain when she commanded it, but he spoke: “They attacked the city. They… surrounded us. Cut us off from everybody else. I couldn’t defend him.”  
Hattori, from Minerva’s side, took a running start. “I need to inform the others,” he shouted back to her as he leapt from the dais and his arms transformed into wings, carrying him out the main doors and away into the air.  
The boy kept talking. “They didn’t realize I survived. They thought I was dead. I had to come tell you. I’m sorry.”  
Minerva was silent. She couldn’t think of the words she should be saying.  
She heard Zelda speak. The younger Princess was smiling. “You’re one of the Royal Guard, yes? What is your name?” she asked the boy.  
“Link,” he said.  
“Link,” Zelda repeated, “I’m sorry that you had to go through this. I think…” she glanced between Minerva and the boy, as if expecting one of them to stop her. “I think your arrival here is not something that was up to chance.”  
Minerva felt the throne she sat in - the King’s throne - looming over her. The seat suddenly made her legs ache, and the arms wished to prick her with sharp, carved metal edges. The sound of Zelda’s voice, so steady as it was, was insufferable. She spoke of fate. She spoke of destiny. She spoke of legends and hidden relics and sacred temples and of a holy task that she dedicated to this boy. She smiled when she spoke.  
“The first place you must go is the Hall of Oracles,” Zelda finally said. “From there you will learn your next goal. I’m sorry to place this burden on you, Link, but I feel that our kingdom will need your help.”  
The boy nodded wordlessly. His eyes shone with determination as he stood, then turned to leave the audience chamber. Several more of the guards hurried to help him as he left. The remaining guards had abandoned their posts in the chaos of Link’s appearance; word of the King’s demise would undoubtedly be spread throughout the castle and the rest of the city within the hour.  
Minerva and Zelda were alone.  
The sun set, and the room grew dark. Nobody came to light the lamps, so the Princesses were swathed in shadows, silently sitting in their two thrones.  
Minerva stared at her knees and balled her fists. She couldn’t speak for fear of breaking. How could Zelda be so calm? How could she stand to smile at the boy who told her that their father was dead? How could she thank him?  
She heard Zelda stand up from her throne. She looked up at her and blurted out her words unthinkingly. “How could you…” She stopped short when she saw Zelda’s face, contorted in anguish. She was shaking. Her accusations withered and died.  
Her younger sister collapsed onto her, hugging her desperately and sobbing.  
“I saw this in my dreams,” Zelda wailed. “I didn’t want it to happen.”  
Of course she had. Minerva had known it too, somehow. And her thoughts turned to the creatures who had done this - the demon hordes who slew the King, her father.  
“I’ll fix this,” she said through her own tears. “When I am Queen, I’ll make this right. I promise.”


	8. Chapter 8

Hyrule Castle’s small chapel was packed corner-to-corner with those in attendance of King Hyrule’s wake. Dignitaries from Hyrule Castle Town and its surrounding villages had flooded to the kingdom’s capital to pay their respects and offer their condolences. Today, they had gathered in the chapel around the advisor to the crown, Gor Hora, who would be giving a eulogy and announcing the King’s final will.  
Princesses Minerva and Zelda had been seated at the front of the chapel, directly in front of the altar Hora stood behind, and in full view of the large pictograph of the King propped up on the wall behind the goron. Recovering the King’s remains was impossible, so the wake lacked a casket.  
The Princesses wore matching black gowns, veils, and little else. Crowns and jewelry were abandoned, a custom followed by almost all present in the room. Hora, as was the goron custom, had painted his body with their traditional runes of mourning. Drab gray spirals circled his pale yellow shoulders and chest and trailed down his arms and legs. His pipe was nowhere to be seen, which made him seem naked, despite the fact that he normally wore nothing more than a loincloth.  
Zelda held her hands in her lap and had been staring at them for the past twenty minutes. It had only been a few days since Link arrived in the castle, and in that time the Princesses had received a nonstop barrage of condolences and well-wishes from what felt like everybody in the kingdom and more. The younger Princess looked like she was trying to ignore the fact that most of the people gathered in the chapel were staring at her. Minerva felt the same.  
Hora began speaking. The room’s already-quiet murmuring ceased as his rumbling voice carried over the attendees. “Three days ago, the King of Hyrule and my Sworn Brother, Romulus Baltrice Hyrule, met his end in battle.” His ancient voice was slow and somber. “We have gathered to see him off from this world.”  
The words passed through Minerva without impacting her. The people around her, people from a myriad of places - Hylians, gorons, rito, anouki, and even a deku chieftain - tutted and wept as Hora spoke, as they were expected to for their King. Minerva had no interest in their sympathies, and didn’t want to mourn alongside them. If she would mourn, she didn’t want it to be here; but she had no choice but to attend and expose her pain for the rest of the noblemen to coo over.  
Minerva glanced back to Zelda. She could see that the younger girl was ignoring Hora’s words just as much as she was, doing all she could to simply make it through this ceremony. She thought back to the promise she made to her sister: that was what she needed to be doing now. Not gracefully accepting the pleasantries of everyone in the kingdom who thought themselves worth the time of royalty. She should be preparing to ride to Domus and solve the problem that plagued them, the one that had taken her father from her.  
Hora had finished his speech and was partway through reading the King’s final will. He listed off statements on the maintenance to the kingdom’s status quo and orders of inheritance that would be given to the royal family’s distant relatives. “Finally,” the old goron said, repeating the line he read verbatim, “it is my will as King of Hyrule that my youngest daughter, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, be named as heir to the throne.”

Linebeck was the first person in the room to break the deafening silence, springing from her seat with a cry of incredulity. Then, chaos.  
A dozen more mirrored Linebeck’s shout. A dozen others tried to shout them down. In an instant, Minerva and Zelda were surrounded by a tempest of noble folk all trying at once to be heard over the din. Zelda sat unmoving, seemingly at a loss. Hora stood behind his altar, watching the chaos wearing a sad expression, as though he had known he would be seeing it.  
Minerva felt nothing. All feeling had left her heart and body, except the urge to get out of the room. She didn’t want to see Zelda, sitting in her seat and looking like she might cry all over again. She didn’t want to see Hattori trying worthlessly to calm the castle’s guests. She didn’t want to be at the center of a whirlwind of men and women in funeral wear shouting at the top of their lungs about traditions, laws, and precedents.  
When she stood up and walked down the chapel’s center aisle and out of the room, nobody even noticed.


	9. Chapter 9

Another candle sputtered out, sending Minerva’s desk into pitch darkness again. She opened her desk drawer, digging around inside blindly to find another. She was running low. And she had already expended all of her oil lamps.  
Finding another fresh stick, she stabbed it into the puddle of hot wax forming an island on her desk. She held her fingers out to the wick and focused on the thought of light, sending a tiny spark out from her fingertip which took purchase as flame.  
Finally, the interruption was over, and she could continue her work. She made it another sentence through the book she was studying before she heard an incessant tapping at her western window. Grumbling wordlessly, she shoved herself out of her chair and walked toward the window, flinging the heavy curtains out of the way to find a rito flapping in place, tapping the glass with his foot.  
She fumbled with the window lock until it opened, then swung the window open. “Hattori! What are you doing?” she demanded.  
The rito advisor’s wide-eyed face betrayed little emotion as ever, but his voice was sweetly coated in concern. “I came to check on you. Zelda has been terribly-- Well,” he stopped himself, restarted: “it isn’t good for a princess to be locked in her bedroom for days on end.” He smiled down at her, acting like he carried levity on his back. “Anyway, Minerva, it’s rather chilly out tonight, and I think people will start to gossip if they see me flying around the towers. May I come in?”  
Minerva frowned at him, but then turned around to walk back to her desk, leaving the window open. “Fine,” she said.  
The rito flapped into the room, landing gently on the carpet and shuffling his wings as they transformed back into his normal arms and hands. The dim light from the candle on Minerva’s desk cast a weird shadow across his face, catching his beak-like nose and leaving him halfway in darkness.  
“What do you want?” Minerva asked, tapping her foot impatiently. Her research was waiting.  
“Really, I came to check on you.” He looked around the room, taking in what little was illuminated. Plates of untouched food, delivered days ago, stacked and stale on the table next to her bed. Books - piled neatly, tossed spine-up on the floor, one with pages torn out and tossed in a trash bin - littered most of the rest of the available surface space of the room. Aside from the one he had entered through, every window was closed and had its thick, dark curtains drawn over it.  
Minerva scoffed. “Are you a doting mother hen? I’m fine. And busy.”  
“I must admit I don’t believe you,” he said, apologetically. “Locking yourself up is unlike you. People are worried. And they’re talking.”  
Minerva looked away from him as if to disregard him, but her eye caught herself in her bedroom’s mirror. She was wreathed in shadows from the dim light behind her. Her eyes were sunken into her face. Splotches of unwashed makeup glistened in the light. Her shirt hung worn and unchanged around her shoulders. Her hair was disheveled and dirty.  
She turned back to glare at Hattori. “I haven’t just been moping here. I’ve been doing research,” she gestured to her piles of books and encyclopedias.  
“While you’ve been doing this,” Hattori said, “the kingdom has been moving without you.” He stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder - warmly, kindly. “I’ve been trying to support you down there; a lot of people have been. Thanks to the King’s will, Hyrule feels almost split in two.”  
Despite his words, Minerva laughed, a sharp, harsh bite. “What do you think I’ve been doing? I have a plan.”  
The rito’s eyebrows raised. “For…”  
“For proving my father wrong.” She stomped back to her desk, picking up the book she had been scouring moments before and brandishing it at her advisor. “A study on the wilds outside of Hyrule and the demons which live there.” She pointed at another on the floor next to her desk. “Legends and relics hidden around the kingdom and supposedly lost to time. Essays on Hyrule’s past wars,” she nodded to another one, “and how they were fought.”  
She tossed the tome she held haphazardly back onto the desk. “I am going to go to Domus, destroy those demons,” she approached Hattori and grasped his arm, looking up into his glassy eyes, “and prove my worth as Hyrule’s Queen. You say only half the kingdom is willing to back my birthright? I’ll show the rest why they should.”  
“That’s a dangerous prospect, Princess,” Hattori stuttered. “But… There are some who may be convinced. It may be a wise choice.”  
“I know it is. And since you claim to support me foremost, can I trust you to join me in this, Hattori?”  
She saw him hesitate, but it was hard to tell why. Fear? Intimidation? Dishonesty? His face was unreadable, and when he spoke, his voice still felt warm. “...I will.”  
Minerva smiled. She was confident it was genuine. “Then I will accept your help as my trusted advisor. And,” she lowered her voice, “I would ask a first favor. May I hug you?”  
What was that emotion the rito showed on his face? Not distaste. His face was blank again almost too quickly for the change to register. “Of course,” he said, bringing his arms around her. “I am here for you, as always.” The feathers draped over his arms were soft, and his body was warm through his clothes. They stood together in the flickering candlelight. Minerva allowed herself to relax. She would be able to fix everything.


	10. Chapter 10

Twilight gathered outside; Minerva watched it through the bathroom window behind her, tilting her head back to watch the clouds turn the colors of burning sunlight. Her bathwater grew lukewarm as the minutes passed, but the Princess was preoccupied with thoughts of the impending journey she had spent the past day preparing for. She sunk deeper into the bathtub, reclining beneath the shimmering-gold water.  
A sudden sound stirred Minerva from her musings - a door opening and closing, soft footsteps. Her sister, Zelda, wearing a thin silken bathrobe, tiptoed around the heavy wooden screen that separated the bathroom from its entryway. “Oh!” the younger Princess stopped short when she saw her sister. “Minerva! You’re feeling alright?” she clasped her hands together earnestly. “I was so worried about you.”  
The same beautiful blue stare, filled with concern, with the airy radiance of an angel. How many times had Minerva seen her little sister use that on other people; on herself? She didn’t let the sentiment faze her. “I’m perfectly fine, actually.” She sat up in the bathtub, resting her arms and shoulders around the edge. “I do appreciate the Regent Princess coming to check up on her dear sister, though.”  
She saw Zelda shiver and the tips of her long ears turn red, like the girl was suddenly conscious of her semi-nakedness. She wrapped her arms around her chest. “Um…” she wavered.  
“What is it?” Minerva waved her arm lazily. “If you’d like me to move so you can have a turn, just ask.”  
“No…” she paced, trying to work out words. “I know you’re upset about Father’s will. I saw your face when Hora read it.” She looked back at Minerva, looking like she was forcing her eyes to lock with her sister’s. “I’m sorry about that. But I spoke with Hora afterward. He told me that Father had planned it privately; that he had a vision that I would ‘save us all’.” She looked almost ashamed to say it. “I think… that’s why Link showed up that day. I think he’s our era’s appearance of the legendary one. If he’s here to fight the oncoming darkness, I’m supposed to help him.”  
Minerva raised an eyebrow. “You think one boy can defeat the hordes at our border - hordes who already nearly killed him, I remind you?” She let anger slip into her voice. She knew the stories as well as, if not better than, her sister, but that knowledge felt hollow and useless to her now.  
“If he is the hero… yes.” Zelda nodded as if to reassure herself. “The hero has always appeared to save us. And,” she hesitated again, seeking her words, “my predecessors have always helped him. If this is our destiny, shouldn’t we fulfill it?”  
“Destiny?” Minerva sat up straighter, splashing water over the sides of the bathtub. “That ‘destiny’ is what led to a demon incursion on Hyrule’s cities. What led to our Father’s death. How many times have we done this before, do you know?” She let her voice grow angrier, louder. Her brow furrowed with her scowl. “How many times has the hero failed to truly solve the problem? When he defeated Malladus, the problem didn’t go away. When he defeated Vaati, it didn’t end.” She clenched her fist, beating the rim of the tub with each name. “Kurosa. The Mad Order. Gorizo.” Zelda flinched. “Hyrule’s hero has defeated every one, and what do we have to show for it? A new, unfettered tribe of demons skulking in our borderlands, poised to attack us, again.” Her words turned beyond anger, and brushed against rage. “Relying on that boy has made us lazy and weak. And we’re going to repeat this chaos over and over if that’s all you intend to do!”  
“What else are we supposed to do?” Zelda asked. Minerva was surprised to hear her sound desperate. “They’ve already taken so much. We need his help.”  
“No, we don’t.” Minerva stood. Rivulets of water streamed down her body, glittering like a thousand suns in the light that framed her from the windowed twilight outside. She glared down at her younger sister, the Regent Princess of Hyrule. “I’m going to destroy them.”  
“What…” Zelda’s voice was a whisper, before she shook her head and repeated herself. “What? You can’t. You don’t have--”  
“Hattori has already made the preparations,” Minerva interrupted. “Our train departs in the morning. The soldiers we had meant to send to Domus will be joining us.” She stepped out of the bathtub, bent to pull the plug from the drain.  
“Please don’t be reckless,” Zelda begged. “I know you want revenge. That’s only fair. But running to war -- to your death -- isn’t the right way to do it.”  
Minerva tossed aside the towel she had used to dry herself while Zelda spoke. “No, not revenge. That would be petty.” She walked past Zelda, picking up her own bathrobe which had been slung over the divider screen. “I’m doing precisely what I said. As the King of Hyrule’s eldest heir, I am going to fix the problem he left behind.” She glowered at Zelda, their faces only inches apart. Her younger sister wasn’t faking anything; she was scared. The emotion was painted plainly across her face and body. “Enjoy your bath,” Minerva finally said, whisking around to abandon her sister in the darkening bathroom.


	11. Chapter 11

In the depths of Hyrule Castle, two Hyrulean guards dressed in royal green stood posted on either side of a large metal door, barred and locked. Minerva approached this door from the stairs sitting opposite from it, carrying a candle to light her way. This chamber was only lit by a brazier in one corner of the room; the staircase leading to it and the network of basement halls that led to the stairs were dark and not frequented by the denizens of the castle. Despite its dust and darkness, the lower halls were well-kept and featured beautiful, if cramped, architecture.  
The guards greeted her when she approached the door.  
“Princess.” The gruff Hylian man nodded toward her. The young goron beside him smiled cheerfully in greeting.  
“Good morning,” Minerva greeted them politely, as was expected of her.  
“You have business in the vault?” the man asked.  
“Yes,” Minerva smiled banally, allowing herself to speak softly and kindly. “My dear sister has asked me to find something she wishes to grant to her champion, you see. An ‘Amulet of Earth’, which is a sort of key, according to the legends we’ve researched.” Speaking of the boy who Zelda believed to be the hero of legend made her feel disgusting, but she buried the thought. Right now, she was the saccharine princess instead.  
The guards certainly didn’t notice her displeasure, as the goron moved to grab the vault door’s handle without hesitation, unfurling the latches and then swinging it open with ease. Horribly stale air flowed out from the chamber within as he did so, kicking up dust that made Minerva’s eyes water.  
“Go right ahead,” the goron said, beckoning her inside.  
The other guard nodded again. “Be careful in there. Don’t go too far.”  
“Thank you. I’ll be careful.” Minerva wore her smile as she stepped inside, only letting it drop when the guards turned their backs and she was several meters away from them again. The ease with which she lied her way into this vault disturbed her; she made a mental note to strengthen its security once she returned from Domus and reclaimed her throne.

The vault was dark, lit only by the candle Minerva carried and the glint of strange lights in the corners and within cages that held ancient magical relics. Her footsteps kicked up dust in a cloud around her, her passage through the vault the only disturbance in the air in years.  
This was the first time she had ventured so deep into the vault, but not the first time she had visited it. When she was a child, and Zelda even younger, her sister had slipped inside as a prank and gotten lost. Zelda had nightmares for years following that event, after the guards and their father had finally found her. The vault was filled not only with Hyrule’s treasures, but with terrible things kept from the light of day.  
There, on a pedestal nestled in a shadowy alcove, she recognized the Amulet of Earth. Minerva moved to pick it up, grabbing it and turning it over in her hand. It was a piece of thick wrought gold, shaped like a cross embedded in a circular base, strung on a leather strap. The thing had no gravity to it as she handled it - no power. Still, she pocketed it. She would need to show it to the guards when she left.  
Her real goal was deeper still in the vault. Keystones and baubles littered the area closest to the vault door; the truly powerful relics were kept further within.

Finally, she reached a chamber full of old chests, cages covered up in cloth to hide what was within, and ancient weapons hung on the walls. The air in this room was oppressive, and felt like it would snuff out the candle she held by its sheer force. Dark power clung to the columns running along each wall like cobwebs. When Minerva looked at them, she realized they were somehow twisted, like the room wasn’t quite the right size or shape and the columns had to contort themselves to match.  
This was not a safe chamber. She was in the right place.  
She placed her candle on the floor near a stacked pile of chests. She opened several in turn, passing over old weapons and strange articles of clothing which were certainly magical. Even she didn’t know what most of them actually did; the relics in the deeper reaches of the castle vault dated back thousands of years and beyond, their lore long-lost to the ages.  
Picking up a small wooden box about a foot long, she opened it to find a thin, pristine white baton. This was one of the things she sought. She grinned, snatching it from its box, and felt the potent magic it held within. She would need to bring this outside without the guards noticing, so she placed it in the adventurer’s pouch she wore on her belt - a leather pouch the size of a wallet, but the threads that held it together were enchanted to allow it to contain objects many times its actual size. They were outlawed within the castle walls, but Linebeck had given Minerva one as a gift years ago in secret. Minerva laughed to herself at the circumstances that finally allowed her to make use of it, robbing her own royal vault.  
Her laugh echoed off the walls. Was that her laugh? It sounded different, deeper.  
She shook her head, putting down the box. There was still another relic she was seeking. She stretched over the chests toward the back wall, rummaging around the boxes hidden in the depths of the room.  
She felt like there were eyes watching her back, but she ignored the feeling, dismissing it as nothing more than the weird and twisted atmosphere.  
Her fingers wrapped around a cold metal rod stuffed away under a bundle of rags. It felt like a surge of electricity flowing through her arm, forcing her to hold on to it as she extracted it from between the boxes. The jolt of magical energy didn’t hurt - it was exciting. She could feel the immense power contained within this thing.  
A voice spoke from behind her. Deep, calm, powerful, and confident. It whispered something that she couldn’t quite comprehend - her name, or a greeting, or a warning? Or all of those things at once, somehow.  
Minerva jumped in surprise, stuffing the rod into the pouch on her belt and swiping up her candle from the floor. She turned around, shining the light on the rest of the room. An array of gemstones hidden behind a curtain within a cage glittered. A grotesque, grinning mask leered down at her from its perch upon the wall next to that. A viciously serrated halberd in a weapon rack caught the light, the shadows of its teeth growing on the wall behind it like a shark’s maw.  
Minerva stood still for several minutes, watching the flickering darkness around her, waiting for something to happen, but the room was quiet and still.  
The magic permeating this place must have tricked her senses, she decided. She had the things she came here to obtain, so she turned to leave, quickly. The shadows clung to her like grasping hands as she made her way back through the vault to the entrance, begging her to stay and explore. She ignored the urge to turn back.


	12. Chapter 12

Minerva had not seen Zelda since their argument in the bath the day prior. She stood with Hattori on the train platform in Hyrule Castle Town’s station, watching the Hyrulean soldiers file into the train that sat before them, the engine chugging quietly.  
According to the rito advisor, the damaged tracks across the eastern front of Hyrule Kingdom had been repaired, and their trip to Domus would suffer no delay. He chirped on endlessly about the state of the tracks, the fine engine that would be carrying them across the kingdom, what a lovely morning it was, the bravery of the men and women joining their cause, his eagerness to see the mighty and enduring city of Domus, how he would miss Hyrule Castle’s food while they were gone… Anything that had nothing to do with Minerva’s sister or her hero.  
Minerva knew he was chattering just to distract her and himself from the fact that they were technically entering a coup. She had little interest in menial banter, but she still appreciated the attempt. Even so, her thoughts remained on her goal: the demons at Domus, the monsters who slew her father and somehow, by their very existence, robbed her of her position as Princess heir.  
The train whistle sounded, ready to depart. The soldiers and their generals were all filed into the train. Hattori approached the royal car near the front of the train, the private one that he and Minerva would take on their trip, opening the door for Minerva and taking her hand to help her step up inside.  
The inside of the car was finely decorated for transporting the members of the royal family and their aides. Couches lined the sides and the floor was carpeted with a soft material worked with the design of the Hyrule royal crest in the center. Large windows allowed the passengers to watch as the countryside passed.  
Minerva and Hattori took seats on opposing couches. The train shrugged to life and started moving.  
Minerva watched Hyrule Castle grow smaller through the windows. Nobody else from the castle had come to see off her and her army. She wouldn’t see any of her colleagues again until she returned successfully.  
The car was quiet for a time, the only sound being the gentle rattling of the train over its tracks. Before long they departed the city and entered the vast green countryside. The fortress-city of Domus was on the other side of the kingdom to the east, and so would take the train several hours to reach.  
Hattori eventually broke the silence. “When we arrive,” he said, “I think it may be wise for you to remain at the station until the soldiers can ensure the city walls are safe.”  
“Oh,” Minerva said lazily, “that won’t be necessary.” She pulled her adventurer’s pouch from her belt and snapped it open, withdrawing first the thin white baton she had retrieved from the vault early in the morning. “I took some precautions.”  
Hattori’s wide eyes grew wider. “Is that the Wind Waker? Wasn’t that locked away?”  
“Indeed. As the royal heir, I’ve taken the liberty of using it for the good of the kingdom.” She held the baton’s handle with two fingertips and flicked it back and forth slightly, feeling it draw on her willpower. The subtle movements generated a breeze that buffeted Hattori’s face, sending his hair askew. “And,” she continued while Hattori fluttered his hands to rescue his hair, “I took this.” She replaced the Wind Waker in her pouch and in its place extracted a rod and held it before her in both hands, almost in reverence. The rod was made of a black metal, a simple straight device that held a jewel-like orb in a claw at its tip. The orb had the appearance of glass, but within was a sphere of pure blackness that looked like a hole had been cut out of the world. No light reflected from it, and no shapes could be seen within.  
Hattori sucked his breath in at the sight of it. “What… is that? It doesn’t seem… right.” Minerva could see that the rito was drawn toward the power of the object, leaning forward in his seat to take in the oddity.  
“It is named the Astral Scepter. And you need not worry.” She folded her fingers around it and moved to place it back into her pouch. “I’ve only brought it as a measure of safety. I have no plans to use it.” This was, of course, the truth. If the soldiers she brought with her could properly rout the demons they would encounter, she would have no need to get involved in actual combat.  
“If you say so.” Hattori looked visibly worried with her explanation, which was unusual for the stoic bird. Minerva wondered if he was doing it on purpose. “You are of royal blood. If anyone can handle powerful magic safely, it would be you.”  
“That’s precisely correct,” Minerva said with a smile. “Now, we have a long trip ahead of us, and I have yet to be fully briefed on the latest state of the city. Tell me what information we have at hand.”  
Hattori seemed perfectly happy to accept the distraction, and began running down a list of news and the latest intelligence from Domus. Minerva listened as he spoke; it reminded her of before all this chaos began and she could work, her life unmarred by the persistent, throbbing pain that had been clutching at her heart for the past week. She and her advisor planned and plotted, and the rest of the trip passed quickly.


	13. Chapter 13

The train reached Domus in the mid-afternoon, approaching the great walled city from the west. From the incoming tracks, it was possible to see thick columns of smoke rising from the opposite side of the city; the demon armies had been camped there for several days, after being repelled from their latest ultimately-unsuccessful raid on the city walls that had resulted in the death of King Romulus.  
Fortunately, the train tracks leading into Domus crossed a wide river, protecting them from the encroaching demon hordes. Thusfar the city and the Hyrulean soldiers stationed there had been able to prevent the demons from making significant progress past the western walls, despite the heavy losses on the Hyruleans’ side.  
The train crossed the bridge over Domus’ river and entered the city through a tunnel in the great outer wall. The walls were made of solid black stone and had stood nigh-untouched for centuries. Within, the city proper was built of a similar material, although usually worked into bricks for the purposes of creating buildings and roads instead of carved straight from a mountain. Newer or poorer buildings were occasionally built of wood, and would frequently end up demolished and rebuilt while the rest of the city remained untouched.  
When the train pulled into the station, the city’s mayor, an elderly Hylian named Troy, arrived to greet Minerva and her entourage.  
“Welcome, dear Princess,” he said, taking Minerva’s hand as she stepped out of the train car. Hattori followed her, lighting on the black stone station platform. To their right, the Hyrulean soldiers and their generals began filing out of the train and into the street below the station.  
“Please,” she said, grasping the mayor’s hand firmly in hers, “Minerva will do. I insist.” She wouldn’t normally allow any but her closest colleagues to disregard her title, but that word filled her with a vexation that threatened to rise as bile in her throat.  
“Very well.” Troy smiled, his small eyes glistening. His long whiskers wobbled violently as he spoke: “I have to admit, I find myself a little shocked at the show of force you’ve brought us. This is quite the complement.” He turned to look over the rows of men, women, gorons, and rito gathering in the street. “We can get you all housed shortly, and then get to work on a plan--”  
“Oh, no,” Minerva interrupted, “lodgings can be handled later. I would have you show us to the eastern gates immediately.”  
“Hm?” the mayor turned back to her with a puzzled look.  
“Yes, well, as Minerva says,” Hattori interjected from her side, “our men are prepared to fight. You have a demon problem, don’t you?”  
Troy smiled again. He seemed to look past Minerva, rather than at her, when he spoke. “Ah. I had forgotten who I was dealing with.” He turned and waved his hand, gesturing loosely at the eastern end of the city. “Your determination is commendable as always. I am sure - if I may say it - that your father would take pride in it.”  
“Your sentiment is appreciated,” Minerva said, curtly. “Let us go.”

From atop the black stone walls of the city, Minerva, Hattori, and Mayor Troy watched the Hyrulean army assemble outside the eastern gates. Knights on horses carried flags bearing the lion-and-swords crest of Hyrule Kingdom, rallying the footsoldiers as they rode between the ranks.  
A kilometer to the east, the demon hordes were visible. This was the first time Minerva had been so close to the vile creatures. She had expected to feel more repulsed, or angrier, than she did looking at them now. She was here foremost for the good of her kingdom, but they had slain her father. It would be only natural for her to hate them.  
“They’re mobilizing,” Hattori observed quietly. The demons had quickly noticed the arrival of the Hyrulean forces, and were rising from their camp to fight. The Hyruleans would need to move quickly to take them before they could prepare. Minerva trusted her generals to do their job - she watched patiently.  
Then, as though a gust of wind had swept over a grassy field, the Hyrulean soldiers began marching toward the demon horde. They marched as a single unit, their tall winged spears glinting brightly in the afternoon sunlight. When they crashed upon the demon army, Minerva could hear the shouts of her subjects and the screeching cries of the beasts. The Hyruleans swept across the demons with overwhelming force, cleaving through what troops they had managed to rally in time to meet them.  
And in a moment, it was over. The demon hordes broke off from the Hyruleans, fleeing for their lives. The Hyruleans let them scatter; they would regroup and make a second attack, further from the city, soon afterward.  
Troy sighed. “That is… relieving.” He put his hand on Minerva’s shoulder. “Thank you, Minerva. You’ve done the kingdom a great service.”  
Minerva gave him a steely stare in return. “We’re not finished yet. But this is a promising start.”  
The Hyruleans had turned around, and were marching back to the walls of Domus. The rows of tents that the demons had camped in were left abandoned.  
“Indeed,” Hattori said. “Perhaps we can finally convene and discuss what comes next?”  
Troy nodded in agreement. “Of course. Let me show you to my manor.”

That evening, Minerva stood on the balcony overlooking the city from her guest room in Mayor Troy’s manor. The city was peaceful, considering it had been under siege by demons for weeks. She wondered where her father had died. Outside the walls, most likely. In the mud.  
Hating the creatures responsible for that would be reasonable, she felt.  
She spun the Wind Waker between her two index fingers. She had told Hattori that she planned to use it for self defense. But there was another option. One that would guarantee her victory over the demons skulking just outside the nation’s border.  
She stood straight, taking the baton in her right hand, and lifting it to point at the clear, starry sky. She summoned up the wellspring of energy within her, the stuff innate to all mortal life, and allowed it to flow into the Waker. The baton devoured her magic, channeling it into the air, creating tiny gusts that she could feel as she began to conduct. The knowledge of the movements she was making came to her as if she was born with them.  
When she completed her performance, there was no change in the winds, but Minerva could feel the magic she cast heavy in the air around her. Her preparations were made.


	14. Chapter 14

Minerva, Hattori, and Mayor Troy stood amidst the gathered Hyrulean soldiers beneath the towering walls of Domus. Minerva and Hattori sat atop horses borrowed from the city; they would be marching with the soldiers to the demon enclave. Troy stood on the ground beside them, watching the skies intently.  
The wind whipped wildly, sending Minerva’s hair billowing like the flags of her troops caught taught in the air. The soldiers shuffled in their posts as the handful of generals leading them surveyed the lines. They were waiting for a party of scouts to return and tell them it was safe to march.  
“I don’t like the look of that storm,” Troy muttered, scratching his chin intently. Over the mountains to the east, stormclouds roared, and they were moving quickly westward.  
“It’s just a storm,” Minerva commented. Her horse bucked impatiently under her; she patted its neck to calm it, shushing it firmly. “Look,” she changed the subject. “I see our flags approaching. The scouts are back.”  
Minerva and her companions made their way through the gathered soldiers toward the general meeting with the scouting party. Minerva knew the general - a strict Hylian soldier named Beth. Minerva disliked treating with her; despite the general’s decision to support Minerva in this campaign, she knew that Beth valued the wellbeing of her soldiers far more than she valued the wellbeing of Hyrule’s crown. She wouldn’t do anything to endanger them if an alternative method presented itself… And that was precisely what she started upon when Minerva arrived to speak with her.  
“General. Are we ready?”  
The general shook her head. Her helmet covered her eyes, leaving just her nose and mouth visible. A bright blue feather stuck out of the top of the helmet, helping her stand out amongst the lesser soldiers. “I’m afraid there’s a problem. We expected clear skies, and that storm over there,” she jerked her head toward it, “came out of nowhere. It’s a bad one, too. I’m thinking we might want to wait until it passes so we don’t get lit up by lightning.”  
Minerva scowled. “That won’t do at all. We discussed this yesterday. The demons are crippled. We need to attack immediately, while their wounds are fresh.”  
Thunder crashed overhead, making the party’s horses whinny loudly.  
“They’ll still be hurting two days from now. It’s more important that we stay safe.” Beth kicked her horse, waving her hand up in a signal to her stand of soldiers, preparing them to turn back and re-enter the city. “Sorry, Minerva,” she said, riding close enough to her that only she and Hattori could hear. “I know how much you want to finish this.” She flicked her reins, riding off.  
“Damn it.” Minerva clenched her teeth. She couldn’t pass on the chance she had made. She couldn’t afford to wait.  
Hattori spoke softly: “We could wait. It wouldn’t be so bad so let the soldiers rest--”  
Minerva glowered at him, and the rito quailed under her gaze. “No.” She snapped her reins, leaving Hattori and Troy in the dust. She rode out in front of Beth’s unit, turning and slowing to a trot before raising her voice to a bellow.  
“Hyruleans! Loyal subjects!” Minerva was not a large person, but her voice was well-trained and carried powerfully over the soldiers. She quickly gained the attention of most of the nearby army - and their respective generals. “You’ve proven your worthiness by following me here for the good of our kingdom, and bringing peace to this city! I need you to prove it once more!”  
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply and drawing upon the force within her, summoning it to the surface. She felt heat on her neck as her magic took the form of her intent: a halo of light wreathed her head, causing her hair to shine with an otherworldly glow. “Follow me into their pit where they lurk! We cannot be dissuaded! We must end the demon incursion forever!” She looked down, the figure of picturesque divinity, upon her soldiers as she rode back and forth before them.  
General Beth was grimacing in displeasure. Several of the other generals were nodding. She didn’t expect to win all of them. But most would do.  
“Follow me!” she shouted again. When she turned to ride to the east, she heard the shouts and sounds of marching soldiers beginning to follow her. She didn’t look back to see who stayed behind.  
Hattori rode his horse up beside her, slowing to match her pace as he approached. “Minerva. Are you just ignoring your generals?” He spoke quietly, directed firmly at her.  
It was impossible to tell if he was angry or merely surprised. “I told you I have a plan, didn’t I?” Minerva said. She looked at him, the light still shining behind her head, making Hattori squint with its brightness. She let the magic go, allowing the light to dissipate. “Do you trust me or do you not?”  
“I do--”  
“Then follow me.”  
Hattori didn’t retort; he fell in line beside her, fidgeting with his hair thoughtfully. Harsh winds blew and the stormclouds approached ever closer, rumbling angrily. But Minerva and her army proceeded.


	15. Chapter 15

Wind whipped and whistled around the rocky hillsides as Minerva and her followers marched. It was not raining, but the clouds above were dark and pregnant with the oncoming storm.  
Before the Hyrulean army sat a vast encampment nestled in a valley, wrapping around the foot of the mountain. Tendrils of black smoke rose from bonfires throughout the camp, and crude wooden walls formed a wide perimeter. Within, tents made of stretched animal hides housed hundreds or thousands of demons.  
Even from afar, the demons could be seen panicking. The diminutive, humanoid piggish creatures were in a frenzy, rushing about their camp like an angry hive of bees. The sound of clashing metal, rhythmically pounding in alarm, could be heard from afar.  
Minerva grinned. “Anton!” she called.  
A man rode up toward her and Hattori from the front of the ranks, saluting from atop his horse. “Yes, Princess.”  
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. If the general was bothered, she didn’t care. “I need you to prepare your men to march on this camp. But,” she pointed at him, and divine light flared in her eyes, “Hattori and I will be entering first. Alone. Understood?”  
The man looked like he was going to protest, but Minerva’s fiery stare gave him pause, and he reconsidered. “Yes, Princ-- Minerva.”  
“Good. I’ll trust you to know when the time is right. Be ready.”  
The general nodded and turned back to his army. Minerva frowned at his back as she looked over the lines of soldiers he commanded. Only a single century of soldiers - they were the only ones who followed her. Cowards, the rest of them. But she didn’t waver.  
“Hattori, come!” Minerva snapped her horse’s reins, hurrying forward.  
Hattori remained close at her side. He stammered for a moment, looking for words to say.  
Minerva turned her blazing eyes upon him, the magic she worked still filling her face with the image of divine wrath.  
“I admit,” the rito started, finally finding his tongue, “I said I trust you. I do. But this,” his stare turned toward the demons’ camp. They were coming up quickly upon the entryway, a wide gap in the wooden walls, with no door or guards in sight. The piles of wood on either side, resembling watchtowers, were empty.  
“Hattori. Shut up.” Minerva pulled her horse to a stop as they passed through the gate, leaping off and landing on her feet in the dirt. She pulled her sword from her belt. “You’ll want to dismount.”  
At this point, they had been noticed by the demons. A small gang of them - green-skinned creatures with small, beady eyes, all dressed in tattered cloth and loose bits of metal, the only one carrying a weapon wielding a crude, cruel club - abandoned the hog they were collectively wrangling and turning to face Minerva. Jeers and a strange, brutal language emerged from their toothy mouths as they threw themselves toward her and Hattori.  
Minerva swung her sword arm, catching one of them in the chest with her long, thin blade. The creature fell to the ground like a ragdoll - no blood pooled from its wound. Instead, the flesh around the vital gash blackened and cracked as though it burned, spreading across the creature’s body until it consumed it and then crumbled.  
She dispatched two more of the demons with a two quick stabs, sending their bodies crumpling into the dust.  
The fourth charged toward Hattori’s horse, spooking it as he dismounted. The rito reached his right hand into his opposite sleeve, and in a single motion before his feet touched the ground, extracted a thin curved blade that cleaved the demon in twain.  
“This is beyond reckless. What are you doing?” he asked. His voice was measured and calm.  
“Don’t worry.” Minerva wiped her sword on her pants leg, cleaning it of the ashes that clung to it. More of the creatures had noticed the two by now. She glanced back through the entryway; her soldiers were still far away, waiting as she had commanded.  
Minerva bellowed toward the demons in their vile nest, raising her sword to the sky. “I am the rightful Queen of Hyrule Kingdom! Bring me your leader! I am here to speak!”  
Of the dozen or so demons that were scurrying to assault Minerva and her advisor, a third of them hesitated, apparently in reaction to her words.  
The rest fell onto Minerva’s and Hattori’s blades as the apprehensive ones looked on. Minerva was almost disappointed at how easily they fell before her. No - disgusted. These were the things that Link, the “hero”, had failed to protect her father from?  
Thunder crashed overhead and they were suddenly blanketed in a curtain of rain. The stragglers turned and ran. Minerva marched forward to follow them, ignoring the rain drenching her through her clothes. Hattori hurried behind her.  
The weather had taken the demons’ full attention; even walking straight into the center of their camp, toward an obviously-large, central tent, Minerva and Hattori weren’t assaulted by a single one more than they had already slain. The small, pitiful creatures were in a panic, doing everything they could to barricade themselves into their miserable little tents.  
As they approached the central structure, a different sort of demon emerged from within. It was almost a hound, but humanoid and burly. Muscles as thick as Minerva’s head rippled beneath a thin cloth tunic, held with a shiny brown-and-gold belt with the symbol of a bird engraved on the buckle. The creature was covered in black fur with white patterns that evoked thoughts of billowing gales. It’s eyes glowed a deep red over its wolfish snout, and its two long ears stood up straight atop its head.  
The creature spoke when it saw Minerva and Hattori, its voice deep and gritty, but startlingly fluent: “What the hell is this?”  
Minerva stepped forward. “I am the Queen of Hyrule! Are you--”  
“Are you insane?” the creature demanded. “Look at the skies. This is a hurricane! A human will die in this!” Its eyes widened and it gestured aggressively, demanding they leave. Minerva realized the thing wasn’t even carrying weapons, and that cloth shift certainly wasn’t armor.  
Minerva ignored the thing’s protests. “Are you this tribe’s leader?” she repeated her original question.  
“I am Gaius. I lead these bulblins. But you are a fool of a queen to be here now.”  
Minerva flicked open the pouch she wore on her belt, extracting the Wind Waker from within. “I’m afraid that I’ve merely made a fool of you, demon.” She flourished the baton for the creature to see. “I have a proposition for you.”  
It grunted in surprise, but didn’t stop her. Minerva saw Hattori out of the corner of her eye, looking like he wanted to interject his own words but was holding himself back.  
“Surrender. And I call off this storm.” She jabbed the Waker toward the demon, punctuating her words with it. Her eyes still shone with golden light. “If you refuse, the storm will ravage your little hovel.” She pointed the Waker at her own heart. “If you try to kill me, the storm won’t stop here - it will move to swallow the eastern half of Hyrule.”  
Hattori gasped. “What?”  
Minerva held her arm out across the rito’s chest, shushing him. “So, demon,” she continued, “you have a choice!”  
The creature clenched its teeth and tensed its body, looking between Minerva and her advisor. Then it slouched. “No, human queen, it appears I do not.” It took several steps forward, coming nearly toe-to-toe with Minerva. She didn’t move, keeping her eyes locked on its horrible red stare, even as it towered several heads taller than her. The demon fell to one knee, bowing its head. “I surrender. I give these many lives to you.”  
Minerva stepped back. “Your wisdom is commendable.” She turned her baton skyward, beginning to conduct her spell. In moments, the rain slowed to a drizzle, then stopped. The clouds turned light, then white, then disappeared entirely, carried off by the winds Minerva held in her fingertips.  
The demon stood up in awe, turning to watch the skies clear and the sunlight create a brilliant rainbow over the valley the camp sat in. Bulblins crawled out from their tents, marveling at the sudden disappearance of the storm, and looking on curiously at their leader meeting with a Hylian and a rito.  
“Incredible,” the demon spoke. “I knew that your people held great magics, but I have never seen such a feat.” He continued, gazing up into the sky, his back turned to Minerva. “You have outdone me. I am no longer the leader of these bulblins. Tell me, what will you--”  
He stopped short when Minerva ran her sword through his back. The blade slid through flesh and between bone, finding its way cleanly to open air on the other side of the creature’s heart. The beast slumped forward, letting out nothing more than a quiet gasp as it fell into the mud, its body crumbling to dust.  
“Minerva?!” Hattori exclaimed. “He surrendered. Why did you-- oh no.” He whirled around, his blade flashing in his hands, as if he expected the bulblin hordes to descend on them in retaliation. But they did not.  
Rather, they stood still. Some looked confused. Some crept forward slowly, attempting to get a closer view at the woman who just slew their leader.  
“Hattori,” Minerva said lightly, ignoring his cry of shock, “I’ve just had a marvelous idea.” She looked around at the demons approaching her. Some jeered. Some knelt. Some approached still closer, but all were awed in their own way. “Go fetch the others, would you? We’re going to be busy.”


	16. Chapter 16

Hattori hadn’t moved to follow the order Minerva gave him. With the hurricane dispelled and the sun shining, an unfamiliar silence hung over the still air of the bulblin camp. Hattori still clutched his blade in his hand as though ready to use it, but the demons surrounding him and Minerva did not move; they only watched.  
“What is it, Hattori?” Minerva asked. Her voice surprised even herself as her words came out gently.  
The rito made little attempt to mask the distress on his face. “Was this your plan?” he asked.  
Minerva smiled, the sort of smile she usually reserved for her younger sibling. “You’re a clever bird. I’m sure you’d be able to figure it out yourself.” She realized she was still casting a divine magical light from her eyes; with a blink, it was gone, and her icy blue eyes gazed upon Hattori once more.  
She approached the rito, stepping smoothly over the patches of mud and pile of ashes where the darknut once stood. The demons who had watched her humble and slay their leader stood as though frozen in time, transfixed on her actions.  
She held her sword loosely in her hand, with no consideration for the hundreds of demons surrounding her. They were nothing. “Of course it was,” she continued, speaking softly to her advisor. “I realized something, you see. How many times have we - Hyrule - done this, do you know?”  
Hattori stammered. He glanced back and forth at the demons, his grip still tight on his weapon, but his gaze inevitably fell back to match Minerva’s. “This - you mean this war?”  
“Yes, precisely that.” Minerva shook her head. “Our ancestors have been fools, Hattori. War after war, hero after hero, these things always come back to fight us again. I, too, was almost caught in that foolishness.” Her smile grew wider, her face shining like the tranquil skies above. “But for all of our kingdom’s great leaders, none have tried to conquer our enemy.”  
She saw Hattori’s grip loosen on his weapon. He saw the reason in her words as realization dawned on him. “So you wagered all of our lives to take theirs,” he observed. His voice was steady and collected once more.  
“That’s right. And I won. With this,” she turned to face the bulblins as if to embrace them, “I can prove to Hyrule that I, not Zelda, am her Queen.”  
Minerva watched Hattori look around anew, his trepidation cleared away. His eyes scanned over the bulblin hordes. Some stared back, some jeered, and some flinched at his acknowledgement. “What do you intend to do with the demons?”  
She laughed. But she didn’t mind explaining the obvious. “Tame them, of course! That’s why I need you to go bring Anton and his men here. I will need help.” She held out her hand to her advisor, and asked him her question for the third time. “Do I have your trust in this? Will you follow me in this conquest?”  
Without a hint of hesitation, the rito took her hand in his and bowed deeply before her. “I will.”  
“I knew you would say that. Now, if you would…”  
Hattori nodded wordlessly, and in an instant he was off the ground, his wings carrying him into the air and back to the Hyrulean army.  
Minerva was, for the moment, left standing alone over the ashes of the darknut she slew, looking down upon the bulblins who once served that creature. The demons who had slain her father and caused her life to descend into turmoil. A pitiful gaggle of violent, ragged, and starving vermin who had caused nothing but misery for the kingdom she loved. Her subjects.


	17. Chapter 17

Minerva stared down the bulblin horde. The silence was such that she could hear the rainwater dripping off her hair and clothes into the mud. The demons hadn’t moved since she had destroyed their leader; they were waiting for her to do something.  
She put away her sword, leaving her palms empty. She wondered if these tiny piggish creatures actually spoke Hylian. The darknut did - surely its soldiers must have some grasp of it.  
“The war you have all been fighting is over,” she began. She didn’t embellish her words with magic, nor did she shout. There was no need, as the demons were rapt already. She saw some of them muttering to each other as she spoke, so she knew they did at least have some sort of proper language of their own. “My name is Minerva. I am the Queen of Hyrule Kingdom. You are now my subjects.” The crowd rippled. “If you take issue with this, you may speak.”  
She paused. She could pick out words that the bulblins were repeating to each other, but had no idea what they meant. She heard the Hylian tongue sprinkled into their speech as well - fragmented words like “queen” and “death”.  
“In a few minutes, the Hyrulean army will arrive. They, too, are my subjects, and as of this moment, are your superiors.” There was no dissent; only whispers. Would it really be this easy? She couldn’t believe that she’d be able to tame these creatures with so little effort.  
The sound of marching soldiers could be heard from behind. Hattori and Anton, followed by one hundred Hyrulean soldiers, approached. All but Anton were on foot, marching through the mud.  
Minerva turned to greet her men, leaving her back unguarded. “My loyal soldiers!” she hailed them, beckoning Hattori to her side.  
Hattori was signaling the soldiers to withhold their weapons - Anton and the soldiers looked wary, but obeyed the command.  
“I trust Hattori has informed you of what’s occurred,” Minerva continued, “and I apologize for misleading you all. We are not truly here to kill these demons. I have come here to…” she sought the correct word to give to her followers. “...rule them,” she finished.  
Without warning, the bulblin horde pressed forward. Minerva was suddenly swarmed by them, nearly knocked off her feet, and for a moment felt pure panic as she anticipated a knife in her back or a club to her head - but they merely brushed around and past her.  
The tiny green creatures surrounded the Hyruleans, peering over each other to look at them, prodding their armor curiously, grinning and chattering to each other in their own odd, guttural language.  
Before Minerva could react, she was distracted by two pairs of stubby fingers latched onto her forearm. She looked down to find two bulblins clinging to her, their maws spread wide to reveal their small, sharp teeth in smiles. Their tiny eyes glowed red, but they were wide and cheery. “Queen!” one of them spoke, picking over its words with the eagerness of an unfamiliar speaker, “come to our home!”  
She looked up to see the same thing occurring around her soldiers. Some were apparently distressed at how close the bulblins were getting, but the demons weren’t bringing harm to a single one of them. They jeered and chittered and bounced over each other, vying for space, but all they did to the Hyruleans was push and pull them.  
Minerva couldn’t help but giggle. It really would be this easy. She turned her attention back to the two begging at her wrist, speaking down to them like she would at a pet. “Very well. I would be happy to visit your home.”


	18. Chapter 18

After Minerva agreed to follow the bulblins to what they called their home, the demon horde had led, or dragged, or pushed her and her Hyrulean army out of their war camp and to the east, through the valley and around the mountains that formed Hyrule’s eastern border. They had marched in a swarm for the remainder of the day, finally stopping as the sun began to set to make what sufficed for a camp for these creatures.  
Once it was done, Minerva sat on a fallen log around a small fire with Hattori and her general, Anton. Anton’s century had not been prepared for a lengthy excursion, but the few days of rations they carried would do.  
She saw Hattori grimace as he took his share of hard bread and tough, chewy jerky, but it didn’t bother Minerva. She was watching the bulblins as they sat in small, haphazard clusters across the muddy plain, cooked what little food they had carried with them, and fought with each other over the scraps. Any tents the tiny creatures built amounted to little more than some cloth slung over a stick; those lacking such skills elected to sleep on whichever soft spot of dirt they could find.  
Anton growled. “I don’t like this.” That much had been obvious, as Minerva had noticed as they marched during the day. The general had kept his soldiers a healthy distance apart from the bulblin horde, even as Minerva - and Hattori beside her - willingly walked among them. As they made camp, the Hyruleans stayed to themselves, cobbling together their basic tents for the night.  
Minerva met his gaze with her own. She hadn’t worked with him before bringing him out to Domus. By his appearance, he was a perfectly average Hylian. Long ears poked out from between scruffy brown hair and an equally scruffy beard. He, like all Hyrulean soldiers, wore the traditional grass-green garb of the royal army, the tunic usually worn over chainmail. Minerva knew from previous briefings that he was a career soldier; no family, nearly forty years old, and all of it in service to the kingdom.  
She could appeal to that. “I understand your feeling. Walking alongside the creatures you’ve fought your entire life would be difficult for anyone.”  
The general grunted. “It doesn’t seem to bother you much.”  
Minerva paused, taken aback momentarily at his bluntness. It was true that out of all people in Hyrule, she had one of the greatest personal vendettas against demonkind. But she was forced to quell that feeling for the greater good. “I’m doing what I do now in order to save my kingdom.”  
She saw Anton raise an eyebrow at that. He still wasn’t fully content with Minerva claiming her birthright. She would make sure to fix that before the night was out.  
“How many people do you know who set out to do battle with demons and never returned?” she asked. Gently, but with conviction.  
His brow furrowed. “Gods, how could I count? There’s always… something to fight. Bandits. Dragons. The unquiet dead.”  
“And those who do not return - how many leave widows and orphans?”  
He shook his head.  
“If you had the opportunity to end that, would you take it?”  
The general stared her down. Minerva could see the doubt written plainly on his face, the doubt of a man who had never even considered such a possibility. Anton was hers.  
“You can’t seriously expect to do that,” he said, his disbelief not fully quashed.  
“I will do it.” Minerva smiled. “But for that, I need you to work with me. Trust me, as Hyrule’s Queen, to fix our problem - to end the threat of demonkind permanently. Help me.”  
Minerva held Anton’s heart in her hands, but she could see that the general was not ready to admit it. “I don’t like it. But I’m following you.” He stood, looking for an excuse to depart. “I’ll go check on my men. Please excuse me.”  
Minerva waved him off. She had won the loyalty of her few trusted soldiers, and of the demons themselves. She had Hattori. All that would be left would be to return to Hyrule once she appeased these demons and prove to the whole kingdom that she was the rightful queen. It would be easy.


	19. Chapter 19

The Hyruleans marched alongside the bulblins for two more days. Hyrule Kingdom sat far behind them, and their army made its way through the northeastern mountain range, a wild place holding no civilization but for the occasional goron hermit. The soldiers grumbled at the distance, but General Anton kept them quiet - he had taken Minerva’s leadership to heart, and was enforcing it sternly.  
On the third day, when they finally stopped, they found themselves standing before an immense gate that loomed between two cliffs. It appeared ancient, built of stone bricks carved from some rock dissimilar from the surrounding mountains. Weathered, barely-visible patterns of spirals and cogs dotted the edifice. Despite its obvious age, the gate’s two great stone doors remained firmly in place - closed.  
One of the bulblins at the head of the horde withdrew an ivory horn from its belt and blew. At the sound, the things atop the gate which Minerva had assumed to be simple gargoyles suddenly came to life, stretching their long, spindly limbs and wings. Two of the creatures hopped from their perch, gliding to land in front of the bulblin horde and the trailing Hyrulean army.  
The flying creatures spoke animatedly with a trio of bulblins as Minerva and Hattori approached. She had neither seen nor heard stories of any creature like these before. They stood nearly the height of a human, with large pointed ears making up the rest of the difference. They had fuzzy faces and snouts lined with sneering grins, attached to a gaunt, bony humanoid body. Leathery wings stretched from their backs, beating aimlessly as they spoke.  
When Minerva and her advisor approached, one of the batlike creatures turned its narrow yellow eyes on her. It spoke at her in a language she didn’t understand; the same used by the bulblins amongst their own kin. But based on how the thing bared its teeth, Minerva felt she understood what its intent must be - it was disapproving of her presence. She frowned at it.  
“You did not make mention of more of your kin,” she said to the bulblins gathered around her. She had expected only more of the small piggish creatures at their “home”. “Do these ones speak the Hylian tongue as well, or must I bare my own teeth at them to pass?” she asked.  
When Minerva blinked and turned to look again at the batlike creatures, she saw herself staring back at her, and another Hattori standing behind this other self where the second demon stood a moment before.  
The bulblins chittered in a way that sounded like laughter.  
Hattori stepped forward, putting his arm between Minerva and the demons. “Hold on, Minerva.” He directed his attention at the mirror images, grimacing. “What is this trickery? A threat?”  
The mirrored Hattori stepped forward simultaneously. “What is this trickery?” it repeated.  
Hattori bristled.  
“Where is Gaius?” the mirrored Minerva asked. It spoke with a calm cadence matching Minerva’s nearly perfectly. She studied its face. It was almost correct. As she observed, she realized there was a fuzziness to it, like looking at herself in a dusty mirror.  
“That’s a fascinating ability,” she said, ignoring Hattori’s distress. “Dangerous, but certainly useful.”  
The mirrored Minerva and Hattori frowned impatiently. “Where is Gaius, human?” the mirrored Hattori asked.  
“I killed him,” Minerva said flatly. “And have conquered you. Is that a problem?” She didn’t draw any weapons nor speak aggressively.  
In the span of another blink, the shapeshifters had returned to their original demonic forms. The one who had taken the form of Minerva spoke, flapping its wings as it did so and lifting off the ground. “Very well,” it said, its voice grating and high-pitched. “The door will open.”  
The other one turned to follow its partner back to the gate, but sneered back at Minerva and Hattori as it went. “A human slew Gaius! Such lies.”  
Minerva watched them light on the wall above the gate. A moment later, the giant stone doors slowly slid open, powered by some noisy but unseen mechanism within the wall.  
The bulblin horde pushed forward eagerly, pressing into the door as it swung open.  
Minerva spoke, whispering to her advisor. “Be careful as we proceed.”  
“I am,” he said. The two allowed the bulblins to swarm around them, waiting patiently for the Hyrulean army to catch up. “Are you worried about this?”  
“No. But if there are others here who do not yet see me as their queen, we must be prepared.” She lifted her arm to show Hattori that she held the Astral Scepter in one hand. Its power pulsed in a way that could be felt in her bones.  
If the rito was still bothered by Minerva’s willingness to face conflict, he didn’t show it. Instead, he nodded and bowed to her. “Lead the way.”


	20. Chapter 20

Minerva stepped through the great stone doors and before her saw an idyllic view to rival her kingdom’s greatest monuments. A wide basin stretched for miles, surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs carved with an architecture similar to the gate enclosing the area. Green grass spread from her feet until it met a lush forest and a brilliant blue lake, all totally contained in its private paradise. Structures of stone - visibly ancient even from afar, but wholly undamaged - stood in clusters on the far end of the enclosure near the lake’s edge, forming a sort of village. Tents, obviously newly-built, and similar to the ones found closer to Hyrule Kingdom, spread between the buildings and the nearest hewn cliff face.  
The bulblins rushed forward into this place like children returning home for dinner. They moved as a mob, swarming Minerva and Hattori and prodding them both forward along with the horde.  
Hattori scanned their surroundings, enthralled by the architecture. He paused long enough to examine an obelisk marking the road the bulblins followed to their camps, running his hand along the engravings.  
“I had no idea something like this was out here,” he said aloud, more to himself than to Minerva. “This stuff may have been built by the ancient Lokomo…” He frowned. “And it’s been taken by demons.”  
Minerva clasped his arm. “Worry not. It belongs to Hyrule now.” She stretched her arm to gesture over the distant village. “We can grant our subjects one ruin to call their home.”  
“You’re right.” The rito hummed quietly. “Perhaps we could call for an archaeologist.”  
Minerva laughed lightly. “If it pleases you. Come on,” she beckoned to him, “our subjects grow impatient.”

The bulblins and Hyruleans finally arrived at the village within the basin, marking the end of their days-long march. The ancient stone buildings formed something of a city square within the swathe of encircled tents, and this was where the bulblins led Minerva and Hattori.  
Their arrival had been noticed, as there were people gathered in the square - not bulblins, nor bats, nor humans. A gang of tall lizardlike humanoids stood in orderly fashion awaiting the bulblins’ approach.  
“Geozards, too?” Hattori muttered.  
“Hm,” was Minerva’s only reply.  
When they finally arrived, one of the geozards stepped forward, this one sporting a taller headfin than the others. It spoke to one of the bulblins at the head of the pack in some harsh language, gesturing in the direction of the Hyruleans occasionally.  
Minerva couldn’t tell what they were saying, aside from the obvious fact that the lizardlike creature was angered by her presence. She hated the fact that she could not understand them. She knew half a dozen languages from around the known world, but whatever language these demons spoke amongst themselves in their own home was not one of them. It was infuriating.  
Finally, the geozard turned to Minerva, brushing aside the comparatively tiny bulblins it was speaking to. It stormed through the horde to face Minerva directly and spoke, this time in broken Hylian.  
“You killed Gaius,” it said through scaly yellow lips and rows of razor teeth. Its voice was raspy and high-pitched, like it wasn’t quite used to breathing air. It stood almost as tall as the darknut in question, the fin atop its head making up the remainder. Shiny green and yellow scales lined its body, left uncovered but for the thin cloth pants it and its companions wore.  
“A human is too weak,” it continued, drawing a vicious-looking sword from its side and pointing it toward Minerva. “Prove it.”  
Minerva brandished her scepter. “Hattori, stand back. That is an order. And signal Anton, too.”  
The rito stepped aside wordlessly, and the bulblins surrounding them cleared away without being commanded. They understood what was about to occur.  
“My name is Minerva. I am the Queen of Hyrule, and your new ruler. If you wish to tell me your name before you die, do so.”  
The geozard did not speak, but moved to lunge forward.  
Before it could take a second step, Minerva flicked her wrist. The air grew heavy. Pressure reverberated through the air as the geozard was pushed to the ground, unable to move even a finger. Magical power surged through the Astral Scepter as Minerva held it, generating an inescapable force that totally incapacitated the demon. The Scepter’s power worked exactly as she imagined and commanded, as though she herself was born to wield the device.  
“Is that it!?” she barked, keeping the Scepter trained on the geozard. The coolness of the haft grew even colder in her hand as she poured her magic into it, and yet it didn’t bother her as she knew a freezing temperature should.  
The geozard groaned, unable to make any further utterances, let alone fight back.  
Minerva raised the Scepter. The overwhelming force vanished. She put her boot on the geozard’s sword hand, keeping it pinned. “Serve me,” she said to it. “Become the subjects of the Queen of Hyrule. Tell this to your kin.”  
The geozard slowly pushed itself to its knees, looking up at Minerva with what could only be fear in its glowing red eyes. It nodded.  
Minerva looked around her. Bulblins, Hyruleans, and lesser geozards alike looked on in awe. She lifted her Scepter to the sky and shouted: “Are there any more who would challenge the Queen? Any more who would meet my wrath, that I may earn their loyalty?”  
There was no response. No more demons approached. The remaining geozards didn’t move, even to help their leader stand.  
“Good,” Minerva said. “Then we have work to do.”


	21. Chapter 21

Days passed. Minerva had been given one of the ancient stone buildings to call her own. The place was cold and unused; dust swirled from the floor at every footstep, and the few windows were mere slits, leaving the rest of the building in shadows.  
Minerva had converted the large entryway into an audience chamber of sorts. Heavy stone double doors opened upon a room lined with pillars, and doorways branched off into twisting passageways from the side and back walls. The room was windowless, and so she had been forced to keep fires burning day and night.  
She sat upon a stone bench that served as her temporary throne. Hattori stood to her left, hunched over the wooden table that the Hyrulean soldiers had hauled into the chamber for her.  
Outside, the shouts of demons and humans could be heard, both groups going about their daily business - or, at least, trying to. The difficulties of the past days had worn thin both Minerva’s and Hattori’s patience.  
The demons had welcomed Minerva to their home - some forgotten Lokomo hideaway - as their new leader after she crushed both Gaius and the geozard, Kalla. But from there, little progress had been made. Any attempt to corral the demons was stupefied by their general inability to speak coherent Hylian. At Minerva’s orders, the Hyruleans attempted to cooperate, but the wild bulblins and prideful geozards made any sort of teamwork impossible, and the soldiers were left to fend for themselves.  
Hattori grumbled. The list of grievances he had collected in the past days stretched long. “...the soldiers are finding it difficult to ration food, as the bulblins aren’t inclined to share nor have they been able to join hunts or find any sign of agriculture in this place...” The complaints droned on.  
“I did not come here to play local lord for beasts,” Minerva sighed. “We should be bringing my new subjects back to Domus. I need to prove that I’ve tamed them.” The day’s frustration weighed on her shoulders. She closed her eyes, wishing she had tea, or coffee. The demon tribe had taken a beautiful home, but the amenities of civilization were not something they were capable of replicating.  
“It wouldn’t do to simply bring them into a Hyrulean city. It would be chaos.” Minerva could hear the strain in the rito’s voice despite his face being unreadable, shrouded in shadow. “Especially since they’ve already killed--”  
“I know.” She stomped her foot to cut him off, the smack of her boot on the hard stone echoing through the empty building. She did not want to be reminded of that disaster. One scuffle, one dead Hylian, and days of morale lost in an instant.  
Just as the echoing sound scattered through the room, another set of footsteps joined the cacophony from the entrance doorway. A trio of bulblins carrying a precarious stack of firewood made their way inside from the bright outdoors.  
“Ah,” Hattori stood to greet them. “Please, you three, place it down by the brazier,” he directed.  
The demons paused to stare for a moment before the two carrying the bulk of the wood continued past the rito, ignoring him.  
Minerva stood, summoning a divine light into a halo around her head as she did so. She whipped the Astral Scepter she held toward the brazier and barked at the demons. “You! Over there!”  
The bulblins yelped and chattered as they deposited their delivery to where she directed, then moved to flee from Minerva’s steely glare. All but one of them, who lingered. The tiny green-skinned creature twisted its hand over one of its horns before nervously sputtering: “Ehm, Queen…”  
“What is it?” She took the edge out of her voice as the other two bulblins disappeared into the sunlight. There was no need to frighten this one further, yet.  
Stepping over its words carefully and avoiding looking Minerva in the eye, the bulblin spoke: “I think I can help…”  
Hattori stepped forward. “Queen Minerva and I are busy at the moment,” he said, moving to shoo the creature away. “If you have something to bring to her attention and it is not an emergency, wait until the usual time for audiences…”  
The bulblin hissed. “The stupid bird doesn’t know what we say about the stupid bird when he doesn’t hear.”  
Minerva stifled a laugh at the sight of her advisor taken aback as though he’d been slapped. “Dear Hattori, let the demon speak,” she said lightly.  
The bulblin looked encouraged. “I know a little Hylian,” it said slowly. “I know Queen is troubled by talking. I could teach you to talk with us, maybe.”  
“Oh?”  
Hattori shrugged. “If that’s what it is, I suppose it can’t hurt.”  
“Indeed,” Minerva said. “Demon. Do you have a name?”  
It nodded vigorously. “I am called Bui.”  
“Then, Bui, I accept. Give me your knowledge. You will have a place of honor at my side, as a reward.”  
“Yes, Queen!” The bulblin smiled widely with pointed teeth. “I will help!”  
Minerva smiled at Hattori, hoping to assuage his concern. It would not be long before she could coax cooperation out of her subjects, she knew. She hoped he realized it was only a matter of time, too.


	22. Chapter 22

Minerva stalked the fields of the Lokomo fortress, the bulblin Bui at her side. She had to shorten her strides to allow the small creature to keep pace with her, but he scurried contentedly alongside her nonetheless. Minerva had made significant progress in learning to speak the demon tongue from her new tutor, but fluent speech would elude her for a while longer, so she had taken to having Bui accompany her regularly to assist.  
She made her way toward the lake on the northern side of the fortress. The geozard tribe lived a short ways away from the rest of the demons, preferring to avoid mingling and to stay near the water. Many of the amphibious demons were gathered on the narrow beach at this moment, paired off in mock combat.  
“Kalla!” Minerva shouted out when she reached earshot. One of the geozards flinched before turning to face her. The lizardlike demon waved away the two other geozards it had been dueling simultaneously before putting away its cleaver-shaped sword and heading in Minerva’s direction.  
“Queen.” The eight foot tall demon loomed over her. The large fins at the sides of its head were pressed flat, a sign she had learned to recognize as deference. Kalla had taken quickly to Minerva’s leadership after being humiliated. The geozard said something Minerva didn’t understand, a mess of words in the demon tongue.  
She looked down to Bui, who relayed it to her: “She asks if you will finally need her tribe’s services, Queen.”  
Minerva paused. She had considered her words carefully before coming here. The geozards were proud, and were not afraid to shun the other demons nor Minerva’s men if insulted. She spoke back to Bui. “Tell her that I do.”  
“Still learning,” Kalla interrupted. “I will speak your words to you. What is needed? We become impatient,” she waved her arm to indicate the small army of geozards on the beach.  
“Our supplies run low,” Minerva said. “Your kin were responsible for supplying Gaius’ army, as I have been told. How did you do this?”  
The geozard’s fins fluttered. Was it with apprehension? Reading the shape of frills was quite different from reading eyebrows and lips. “You will dislike it, and grow angry.”  
Apprehension it was. “Don’t concern yourself with that,” Minerva ordered. “I need to know this.”  
The demon nodded. “We hunted. Trains. Full of food, tools, clothes. The humans die or run. The birds too. The rocks fight hard. Many of us die, too.” She hesitated, then spoke excitedly: “You will send us to hunt trains again?”  
Minerva frowned at her. She had been afraid that the answer would be exactly that. Why would it be anything else? These were not soldiers or even mercenaries. They were demons. Raiding was all they had done for thousands of years. Even the idyllic fortress they held now was only theirs because they had taken it from the grasp of history.  
Raiding Hyrulean or Kytheran trains for supplies was unreasonable. But the Hyrulean soldiers and the demons both still needed to be fed and clothed - as much as Hattori wished he could simply talk rations into existence - and going back to Domus to beg for charity for demons was worse than a bad joke.  
“I need to consider our plans,” she finally said. “I will give you an order tomorrow. Until then, you and your tribe should be patient. Understood?”  
Kalla bowed her head. “Yes, Queen.” The words hissed out of her mouth like steam.  
Minerva made haste back to her headquarters. She had to decide what to tell Hattori. And what her next move would be for these demons.

The sound of squealing screams roused Minerva from her cot. It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t dreaming, that she wasn’t hearing some disturbing and violent foresight. The shouts of whatever cried out echoed down the stone halls of her dwelling and penetrated the silken curtain that served as the door to her quarters.  
She pushed herself to her feet, fumbling in the darkness before her hand found the hilt of her scepter, close to her side as always. She snapped her fingers as she approached the doorway, producing a mote of light at the tip of her index finger. The divine power in her surged brighter than any candle, burning her eyes as she blinked off her sleep.  
She pushed aside the curtain, stepping into the hall. Her light illuminated the source of the screams approaching from afar, a great lumbering entity with some squirming mass at its shoulder. The silhouette became a geozard as it approached, carrying some furry long-snouted creature at arms-length. The creature spouted a fountain of pleas that became clearer as Minerva listened, begging for its life and apologizing endlessly.  
“Kalla.” Minerva spoke the geozard’s name as more of a question than anything else.  
“Queen!” the demon’s red eyes glowed in the darkness. Her fins flapped excitedly. “We found this hiding in our den!” Kalla tossed the creature on the ground at Minerva’s feet, spitting out some word she didn’t recognize; a crude epithet, undoubtedly.  
When the creature landed, it looked up and broke into a pleading smile. It clasped its hands together, stretching its lanky arms out before it and bowing over on stubby legs.  
“A Hylian! Oh, thank you! You can help!”  
Minerva stared down at the creature. A mogma, she realized. She had never met one, but the mole-like characteristics were clear enough. She thought it must be quite the sight - a Queen in her bedrobe and a monster lizard watching a mole weep. “How can I do that?” she asked, calmly. “Why has one of my generals found you in my fortress?”  
The mogma recoiled, as though it hadn’t expected the question. “I… I was just here to look,” it stammered. “Well, I heard this place was abandoned, so…”  
“A worm,” Kalla growled.  
“How many of your people are here, mogma?” Minerva asked.  
“Just me!” it yelped. Then, continued: “I mean, there are some waiting for me to get back.”  
“Many worms,” Kalla picked up the mogma by the scruff of its neck again. “Queen, I can kill them all.”  
“Hold your blade, dear.” Minerva brandished her scepter. “If I wanted the poor thing dead, I would do it myself. Mogma,” she directed her attention at the wailing creature, “I want to know what your people are here for.”  
The mogma shook its head. “Just money. Treasure. Loot.”  
“Hm.” It certainly wasn’t in a position to lie to her, and it matched what she knew of the species - aimless mercenaries and hoarders who would “claim” any unguarded relic they could find. They would work for anyone, and it was common to see them robbing hapless merchants on high, less-traveled roads. It could be useful to bolster her forces with such a group, if she could convince them. “You’ll be glad to learn that we certainly have plenty of that,” she lied.  
The mole’s ears perked up.  
“Kalla, you said that your kin are often killed in your supply raids, yes?”  
The geozard nodded. “Yes, Queen. Many die stopping train, breaking train, and fighting soldiers like yours. We still win at the end.”  
“It sounds like you are in luck. This generous mogma has offered to work for us. They can gather their companions and join you on a raid in the morning - you can use their abilities as you see fit. And we’ll pay them with our treasure, of course.” Her eyes shined in her pinpoint of light. “Right, mogma? That certainly sounds better than making an enemy of the Queen of Hyrule.”  
It took the mogma a moment before it could respond. “Uh, yes! Yes? We can do work if you pay. And if you don’t hurt us.”  
“Good. You can follow Kalla’s orders, then. If you do well, you can consider all the treasure you can carry from this supply raid to be yours.” She waved her scepter. “Kalla, now leave me be. You have a raid to prepare for.”  
“Yes, Queen!” The geozard, still holding the mogma up in the air, turned to march away.  
Minerva heard footsteps from behind; Hattori had finally arrived. She turned to see the rito bundled in a robe, his feathers ruffled and sticking out of him like a pincushion.  
“Is everything alright?” he asked.  
“I’ve found a task for the geozards,” she explained, “and gained us another asset. A team of mogma came to ‘investigate’ our camp. I thought it prudent to hire them and use their skills to fill our empty supply stores.”  
“You’re building quite a strange menagerie, Minerva,” he commented. He was still half asleep, Minerva realized.  
“If it helps us meet our ends, then it will do. I hate to admit that our band of soldiers needs plenty of help right now.”  
“Of course. Well, if everything is settled, I’ll bid you goodnight.”  
“Yes.” She knew he didn’t realize exactly what task she had sent Kalla on. She had promised him that she would try to find an alternative to banditry, but there was none. It was all her subjects knew how to do. She would let him sleep soundly without that knowledge. “Goodnight, Hattori.”


	23. Chapter 23

With the geozards away, life continued slowly in the fortress. General Anton and his century of Hyrulean soldiers worked alongside the thousands of bulblins to the best of their ability, attempting to bring a sense of civility to the demons. Progress was slow, but not nonexistent. In the past weeks, Minerva had been able to send teams of soldiers and bulblins together on hunting expeditions - and was able to trust them to come back alive.  
Minerva and Hattori sat with the bulblin Bui regularly, Minerva teaching the demon how to be a proper teacher just as much as he taught her how to speak his native language. The rito took to it slowly, but could at least hold a short conversation with the demons when Minerva needed him to.  
The time to return to Hyrule was fast approaching. With the demons fully tamed, Minerva could lead them back home to prove her worth as a queen. After thousands of years, stretching back even to the pre-history before Hyrule’s first settlers, she would be the first queen to truly end the ceaseless warring that had not only plagued the land itself, but taken away everything she cared about just a few short weeks ago.  
Minerva had just finished getting dressed when she heard the horns. Long, wailing notes sounded from the southwest, repeating and drawing closer as more guards took up the call.  
When she reached the main entrance of her headquarters and stepped out into the morning sunlight, Hattori and Bui were already waiting for her.  
“” Bui spoke to her in his native tongue, as he was more comfortable with it.  
“The guards say it’s a small army,” Hattori explained. He was steady, betraying little concern. “But no word on who leads them.”  
“ Hattori. We’ll give them a show of force; they’d be fools to attack if we outnumber them, so we can talk.” She waved at Bui, ordering him to his duty, then began marching in the direction of the fortress gate, with Hattori trailing behind. She clenched the Astral Scepter in her fist; just in case.

When she and Hattori finally arrived at the top of the great stone gate, well over a thousand bulblins had already gathered behind it. Minerva ordered the gate to be opened as she stepped up the stairs over the crenellations. When the bulblins poured out, she shouted her commands down to them:  
“”  
She turned her eyes to the invaders, her attention lighting on their flags. A lion’s head atop crossed swords - Hyrule.  
“Why are they here…?” Hattori read Minerva’s mind out loud.  
She would have responded, but stopped when she saw a girl and a boy making their way to the front of the army. The boy dressed in grass green and a long hat, carrying a sword in his left hand. Link.  
Rushing beside him, almost losing him amidst the ranks as she dashed ahead, was Zelda. Here, outside of Hyrule, in the wilds, leading an army.  
Minerva’s sister burst out into the front line, stopping only to catch her breath. Even from afar, she looked haggard; whatever march had brought her here had not served her well. But her eyes shone brightly as she looked up toward the gate.  
“Minerva!” she cried. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”  
Link finally caught up to her, standing beside her with sword and shield in hand. The boy barely bothered to glance at Minerva, focusing instead on the horde of bulblins now standing in line outside the gate, placing himself between them and Zelda.  
One more Hylian came behind him, as well: Lord Julian, pushing his way through the army, trying desperately to catch up to Zelda. When he arrived at the front and caught sight of Minerva and Hattori, he stopped short.  
As the commotion occurred, Minerva noticed out of the corner of her eye a bulblin nocking an arrow into the bow it held. She shouted down to her demons again:  
“”  
As she spoke the language of her demons, she noticed Zelda’s face split in terror. She didn’t know why, but seeing such a sight felt refreshing.  
“What is this, Minerva?” her sister shouted. Her voice cracked.  
“Didn’t I tell you? I’ve fixed the problem our forebears left behind. I’ve taken these creatures as my subjects, and I as their Queen.”  
“We thought you died! You ran to war and never came back!” Zelda paused, wiping tears from her face.  
Minerva waited. Julian, Link, and Hattori all watched, unable to intervene in the sisters’ conversation.  
“I’m so glad that you’re safe, but this isn’t right. You shouldn’t be living in a place like this--!”  
“What is so bad?” Minerva glared down at her. “The demons are under my control. They’re tamed. Soon, they’ll be ready to return to Hyrule and--”  
Zelda shouted again, desperately. “You can’t do that! What do you expect to happen? They’ve raided our towns… they killed our father!”  
The mention of the late King sparked a mote of fury within her. That man’s decisions had led to all of this. It was he who pulled Minerva’s whole life out from under her. “Our father was a fool and he died a fool’s death fighting a war he could never win! I’m saving us from that war as our kingdom’s Queen! If you try to stop me, you’ll just be repeating the same mistake!”  
“You’re not Hyrule’s Queen, Minerva! You ran away from us! You left me to rule, alone! I have a responsibility to protect my people!”  
A searing, burning feeling welled up inside Minerva’s chest. It clutched her heart, making her want to double over in pain. The sight of her sister, the sight of that boy, all standing against her with their misguided indignation… It was too much to even think about.  
Zelda took another step forward, and in response there was the snap of a bowstring.  
Minerva looked out of her clouded mind, trying to understand what she was seeing. All at once, Zelda recoiled in fear. Link raised his shield, lunging to protect her. Julian barreled forward, putting himself directly in front of Zelda, and a pair of arrows sprouted from the center of his chest.  
And more suddenly still, the calm over the two armies shattered. Bulblins flooded forward, crashing against the Hyrulean knights. Minerva saw Link standing above Zelda alone, guarding her as she cradled her advisor’s body in the dirt.  
“” she shouted. “” Her voice was lost over the din.  
Chaos was rampant; neither army had any form of organization. Clusters of bulblins and Hyruleans fought. In seconds, corpses and ashes littered the ground, and more still followed.  
They were out of control. She needed to stop them. She needed them to go away. She needed Zelda to go away.  
She swung her scepter, waving it in a wild arc over the battle. “” she shouted as she let the thing pull her magic from within her. Below one group of demons and Hyruleans, a swirling, inky black pit opened like a maw in the earth. They were gone. “” Another section of the battlefield was enveloped in a cloud of darkness, which then quickly shrunk into nothing and disappeared, leaving the space utterly empty.  
She cast wildly, with no regard for the wellbeing of the Hyruleans or her demons.  
Half the army had disappeared when she was blinded by a beam of light, descending from the sky and striking Zelda and Link. The light swelled, expanding to contain the battlefield, and then disappeared in a flash.  
Everything was gone. The valley was quiet.


	24. Chapter 24

The scepter stretched out over the empty valley as though it had not yet been satisfied, wavering hungrily.  
No; that was her arm shaking.  
Minerva slumped to the ground, leaning up against one of the gate’s crenellations. She realized she was sweating. Using the Scepter like that had brought her to the brink of exhaustion. That must have been what caused her legs to give out under her, since the alternative would be unbearable.  
She heard Hattori giving orders to the bulblins and achemen surrounding them. He commanded the demons to scout the surrounding area for more Hyruleans and to prepare to defend from incoming reinforcements.  
Once they had departed, he knelt beside Minerva.  
She had closed her eyes, but she could hear the stillness in his voice, as calm as ever. “What--”  
“I made them go away,” she answered.  
Even if the rito’s calmness was a facade, it helped still Minerva’s own heart. The pain boiling in her blood dulled and throbbed.  
“I need to face my subjects,” she said. She tried to push herself up from her seat, but her body was shaky.  
“Wait.” Hattori took her shoulder to support her. “This battle didn’t need to happen. The way you looked at Zelda was… monstrous.”  
She slapped his hand away, even if she had to lean back upon the stone to stay standing. The rito recoiled only as much as was polite, his feathers trembling. His posture still told Minerva he was ready to help her up.  
“The demons were out of control, but they were acting out because of you, Minerva.” But his words stung.  
“What would you have me do instead?” She found her gaze drifting down, away from the bird’s face, drawn toward the void in the head of the Scepter that hung loosely in her hand. She could lose herself in such a vacuum. “My sister led an army against me. She antagonized my subjects. She denied any reason I might have held, to insult me instead.  
She brought a Hero. She came here for war.” She pushed herself off the stone wall onto her feet. “She got exactly what she expected.”  
Hattori tugged at his braided hairfeathers again. “Even so… we can’t bring these demons back to Hyrule now like we planned, can we?”  
“No.”  
“They would take it as aggression,” he affirmed. “Then what?”  
“We continue as planned, but we prepare to defend ourselves and our subjects. Zelda has her Hero. He’ll be following Hyrule’s plan. Are you familiar with it?”  
Hattori shook his head.  
“It is kept secret from most. But you know of the four Sages. The Hero is to meet and recruit each one to his cause in his time of need. After…” she regarded the battleground below her with disgust, “that, my sister will likely enact this plan.  
“But we can reach them first. We can convince the Sages to join us. Without them, the Hero would not only be powerless to oppose us in battle, but the Hyruleans who doubt us too would be forced to recognize my legitimacy.”  
The rito’s fingers were truly tangled amidst his hair by this point. “Very well,” he eventually said. “We should inform Anton and the demons. And… are you alright?”  
Her body wobbled and she couldn’t shake the image of Zelda kneeling over Julian’s corpse from her mind. But she mustered a smirk. “I would let you take my hand as we walk, if it makes you feel better, my dear advisor.”  
Hattori bowed his head. Ever so somberly, like he always did when he was worried. “As you wish.”


	25. Chapter 25

When General Anton had been informed of the events that transpired outside the fortress gate, and of the plan to recruit the four Sages, his demeanor had been subdued before his men.  
Now, in Minerva’s headquarters where she sat flanked by Hattori and Bui, his shouts bounced off the walls in a terrible racket as he ranted furiously before her. The doors to the audience chamber were open to the night air, and the occasional passing bulblin watched the spectacle curiously.  
“It’s insanity!” He had unbuttoned his collar to make way for his rage. His hair stuck to his face with sweat. His left hand rested on his sword’s scabbard at his hip, though he hadn’t yet dared to brandish it. “Starting a war with Hyrule! Slaughtering your own troops! I knew you were mad enough to risk your own skin, but treating your men like cannonfodder--”  
Bui flinched at every other word, but Minerva regarded the general coolly. “They were our demons. I intentionally kept your men away from this - have you grown a soft spot for the rest?”  
He stopped, then growled: “You ordered that yourself.”  
“Your open-mindedness impresses me, then!” she said, twirling her scepter in the air before her. “That’s exactly why I’d like you to take the geozards when they return and…”  
“No, Minerva. Don’t try to change the damn subject! I’m done here!” He folded his arms, standing confidently before her. This wasn’t a sudden decision; he had been prepared to say this from the start. “I’m not going to be a part of your little spat with Zelda anymore. I’m not going to let you lead me or my men to our deaths just because you want to prove a point!  
I’m taking my men and I’m leaving, tomorrow, first thing in the morning. And if any of the bulblins I’ve taken under my wing decide to come with, I won’t stop them.”  
Minerva frowned at him. She knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind at this point. He had been a lost cause from the start; her previous attempts to win him over had only bandaged the gaping wound in his loyalty.  
“Fine,” she spoke like she had found an insect under her foot. “Get out of my sight, and get out of my fortress.”  
The Hylian had the audacity to bow his head in response before turning to leave. He kept his hand on his sword’s handle as he left.  
When he was gone, Minerva looked up to Hattori beside her.  
“I need you to do something for me,” she said.  
The rito didn’t respond for a moment, instead staring out at the doorway where Anton had departed. It was difficult to tell whether anger or disappointment coursed through him before he blinked and looked back down to Minerva.  
“Fetch a pair of achemen. Send them to speak with me.” She trusted him to not ask why. She couldn’t bear that. “Then I want you to fly and seek out Kalla’s unit. I do not believe her a traitor, but I want you to be there in case she runs into Anton or hears of these events from the mouths of her own demons. Ensure she stays loyal to us. Can you do this?”  
He nodded, rolling his shoulders and allowing his arms to transform into wings as he spoke. “Consider it done,” he said, walking and then running toward the open doors, taking flight as he crossed the threshold.  
“And Bui,” she said, pushing herself up off her bench and switching her tongue, “  
The bulblin jumped when she spoke at him, but composed himself quickly. “ _”_

_A polite rap at the doorway beside her bedroom’s curtain alerted her to the appearance of the achemen she had sent for.  
“” she commanded.  
Two Hylian soldiers stepped into her room. They were perfectly unremarkable human spearmen, a pair of young men Minerva knew in passing. Except one had forgotten the scar on his Hylian’s chin, and the other had neglected to consider the beard his counterpart had been growing for the past week.  
“” she said. She didn’t bother commanding them to return to their normal batlike shapes. The achemen always seemed more comfortable and, more importantly, compliant, when she allowed them to play their illusory games with her. Plus, she had little interest in looking at naked bats.  
She leaned lazily on her cot, not bothering to get up for them. Still she played with the Astral Scepter in her right hand, twirling it repeatedly as she spoke. “ _  
” she brandished her scepter toward the two of them, “”  
The two soldiers glanced at each other, grinning. “You hear that?” one said, his voice in sync with his Hylian counterpart’s perfectly.  
“She’s given us a promotion. Congrats, man!”  
“But,” the first turned back to Minerva with a question on its lips, “what does she want us to do with the General?”  
Did they have to force her to say it? Were they extracting some sick glee out of this? She forced herself to stop caring. “”  
Both of them laughed before standing in a half-mocking salute. “As you command, Queen!”  
“We’ll take care of it, Queen!”  
They looked like men but they certainly chattered like bats. She was growing annoyed with them. “”  
The illusory men sauntered out of her chamber. She listened to them laughing and cheering to each other down the hallway. Their insistence on replicating even the mannerisms of their targets was disconcerting to deal with, but it would be useful this time.  
She knew they would be successful in their plot, and so sleep never came to her that night. She waited for the dawn to arrive, musing on her orders and her plan. It was all for the good of her kingdom, she knew. It was simply frustrating that Hattori was the only one she could still trust to understand that.__


	26. Chapter 26

Kalla’s geozard soldiers arrived back at the fortress the following day. There were nearly as many mogma as there were geozards, and most members of the party were toting some sort of loot. Food, clothes, weapons, coin and treasure filled their arms and spilled out of stuffed packs.  
Hattori, having found the raiding party a short flight out from the fortress, had accompanied them back and led them to meet with Minerva at her headquarters. He guided them toward the central area of their little village, knowing Minerva would want to review their success.  
When they crossed the threshold between the first two ancient stone buildings that marked the edge of the village proper, he was surprised to see General Anton waiting for him, still garbed in his Hyrulean uniform and wearing his weapons.  
“Anton; I thought you planned to leave?” he allowed only the slightest fraction of his shock to slip into his voice, asking like he was discussing the weather.  
The Hylian’s face split into an apologetic smile. “My men wouldn’t have it - they talked some sense into me, after I cooled down.” He shrugged. “Sorry about my behavior last night. I spoke too harshly.”  
“To be honest,” Hattori said lightly, “I’m just relieved that you’ve changed your mind.” He spoke honestly, and allowed it to reflect in his voice. He had never been angry nor disappointed in the man, but he had been worried about losing one of the last Hyruleans loyal to Minerva’s cause; Anton’s influence on her campaign could only be healthy.  
Kalla stepped up behind Hattori. “Winged one,” she said, prodding him with a reminder of her clan’s impatience.  
“Right,” he took heed of her, turning to wave the geozards and mogma forward. “Come now, and we’ll report in.”  
Anton fell in line beside him as they walked. “I’ll join you,” he said. “The Queen is expecting you, besides; she’s planning to deliver a speech.”  
“Queen?” Hattori peered down his beak at the man. He was the last person he expected to give Minerva such a title so readily and preemptively.  
“Seems fair to use the title she’s aiming for, since she’s the one running this whole thing, right?”  
Seeing the man’s relaxed demeanor, it occurred to Hattori that he had never spoken to Anton casually before. It made for a tonal shift that threw him off guard.  
“And she’s already got all the demons calling her by it.”  
“That’s true,” Hattori admitted. He had noticed the way her eyes lit up when Bui called her such; a glee bordering on obsession.  
Their group entered the central square of the fortress, coming up behind a large group of bulblins gathered around Minerva, who stood in the doorway of her headquarters. Her eyes were sunken and her posture was slightly less than perfect, but she stood tall, clutching the Astral Scepter still in her right hand, and smiled widely when she saw Hattori and his followers.

“I see you found success,” she said, projecting her voice over the gathered demons. She could see the creatures behind Hattori laden with supplies. And standing beside the rito was her General Anton, or what looked like him. It looked like Hattori held no qualms about either that nor the fact that Kalla’s group carried treasure looted from Kytheran bodies.  
She was grateful for that.  
“Gather together,” she ordered, waving her scepter harmlessly around the crowd. “It is time for us to speak on our next action. Hattori, Kalla, Bui, Anton. Step forward.”  
When the four were standing before her, a few steps below her perch in the doorway, she continued.  
“It is time for me to tell you all what comes next. I have taken command as your Queen, and until this moment we have contented ourselves with that adjustment.  
“But yesterday we were attacked by Hyrule Kingdom, the kingdom I rightfully rule. My sibling, Zelda, has unjustly taken the throne as my nation’s Queen, and has rejected me.”  
It wasn’t truly a lie; the Hyruleans had bristled with armaments outside her fortress. If the demons hadn’t attacked first against Minerva’s orders, a fight would have ensued regardless - possibly an even bloodier one.  
Besides that, there was…  
“And she has taken the boy she believes to be the legendary Hero under her control. I am certain”, she scanned her gaze over the hundreds of demons gathered, with just a few humans interspersed, “that you all know who I speak of.  
“This boy and his illegitimate Queen have no idea of what we strive for together here. Under my rule, you will no longer war with Hyrule, nor any of its neighbors. You will not be forced to live in squalor. You will not torment us nor be tormented by us.  
“The future I have brought you is an end to the chaos that both of us have experienced for uncountable millennia. And for that reason, we will not do battle with Hyrule. But we will oppose those who stand against us.  
“Zelda and Link have set out to gather the power of the Sages in order to wield that power against the world we would build. Before them, I intend to find and gather the Sages to our cause instead. With their power behind us, no one would have the right to deny my legitimacy, and I can bring all I have promised you to fruition.  
“As your Queen, you have my word on this. All I ask in return,” she raised her voice and summoned up her magic power. She must be the very picture of divinity for her subjects. Light radiated from within her, wreathing her whole body. She could see the light bending around the head of the Scepter, twisting unnaturally away, but she paid it no mind.  
When she spoke, her voice thundered as though it came from the heavens. “All I ask is that you follow me.”  
Kalla was the first to kneel, and her geozards followed suit immediately. Bui, the bulblins, and the mogma followed, taking the lead from the lizard folk. The acheman wearing Anton’s skin came next, and the Hyrulean soldiers complied with him.  
For just a moment, Hattori looked surprised to see Anton kneel, but quickly took a knee with the rest.

Hattori approached her afterward, stepping gently through the curtain to Minerva’s bedchamber to find her seated in a stone chair, sipping on a cup of the tea looted by Kalla’s party.  
“The supplies are stocked away and rationed out,” he reported. “We should have enough to last a few weeks.”  
Minerva stood to meet him. “Perfect. That will be plenty of time to hunt down the Sages.”  
Despite the differences in their height, she noticed Hattori quail before her. Something was bothering him. “Yes, about that… Do you know--” But it was easy to tell what.  
“I want you to gather the mogma we’ve recruited. Their leader goes by Alune. Send her and the rest to seek the whereabouts of the Sages. Erza, Yelto, Inari, and Lucat. The two Hylians are vagrants, so I expect they’ll be trickier to track down.” She had recited the same order in her head a hundred times in the past day.  
Hattori’s face melted, his calm facade returning once again. “As you wish.”  
When he turned to leave, an overwhelming urge washed over Minerva to make him wait, just a moment, so that she could approach him, hug him, thank him for his loyalty. She stuttered, and the rito stopped in response.  
A stupid, unsightly whim. Of course he was loyal to her; she was rightfully the very blood of Hyrule itself. She had let her emotions and her despair for the betrayals of those close to her take control of her actions too often lately. It wouldn’t do for the Queen to be puppet to her heart.  
She buried the impulse. She settled for words instead. “Thank you.”


End file.
